Like a Lady
by Tsuki no kimi
Summary: Rima's less-than-pleased — okay, she's completely outraged — when she finds out that she's sharing a dormitory with her nemesis Nadeshiko for autumn semester at their boarding school.  Of course, even the ever-pristine Nadeshiko could have her own set of  slightly stranger  family problems.  AU.
1. 帰

**Kimi-chan owns Shugo Chara. She's really a millionaire with a limo and her own pony. If you make her upset, she can kill off Ikuto. BEWARE. **

***sarcasm***

**Hey, Kiddies: Smoking is bad. Seriously. It turns your lungs into charcoal.**

Chapter One

帰

_*_

I pulled my hat tightly around my ears, shuddering as the autumn wind ruffled my hair. My mother fingered a loose strand that was sticking out from my school beret. "It looks like instant noodles!" she said excitedly. My hair may be golden and curly like noodles, but did she HAVE to say that after I spend two hours carefully working on it?

"Thanks, mama!" I hummed. "The packaged-food look was what I was totally going for."

My mother pouted. She's a bit of a baby. "I can't help it. Mommy's going to be all alone until Christmas."

"What about Bakatan?" I suggested vaguely. Bakatan is our ever food-consuming cat.

"That's right! I forgot about Bakatan!" my mother seemed to cheer up. "At any rate, don't forget that if you ever have a problem, you can – "

"Mom," I said, trying to inch toward the train pointedly, "It's not like it's my first time going to boarding school or anything. I'll be fine and you know it."

"Yeah, yeah," she smiled and gave me a hug that probably busted one of my lungs. "And before I forget..." she quickly pulled a newspaper clipping out of her bag and a teacup. Wait, isn't that the cup that I drank some tea out of this morning?

"Oh, for... _Mom,_ I don't believe in all that claptrap!" I said, dully. If she didn't hurry up, I would miss the train to St. Aleydis's. It was September, and I was going back to school.

"Hmmm," said my mother, looking at the newspaper – the horoscope section. "Taurus is in the fifth house, which means you will have a fateful encounter today!" she peeked at my cup. "And the dregs at the bottom of your teacup say..."

"Hang on!" I interrupted. "I thought I asked you to wash that?"

"Yes, but look – I saw some very odd shapes in it! It's a sign sent from the heavens!" My mother is a superstitious nut. Ugh. "You see, Rima-chan? I couldn't help but notice the parasol in your tea leaves! This symbolizes a new lover, and it's right next to what looks like a padlock, which means a nasty surprise. And look, doesn't this look a bit like a vase? That means a friend in need..."

"Yeah... right." I wasn't really listening. The train blew the whistle threateningly, and I got ready to roll up my pleated skirt the minute my mom left the station. The arm that was holding my suitcase started to sag.

"Bye, honey!"

"mumble."

"Have a great semester!"

"mumble."

"We'll see you at Christmas!"

"mumble."

"Oh, and about that fateful encounter..."

"Mom!" I said, pushing her. "I need to get on the train!"

"Bleh," she said, waving and walking away. I quickly rolled up the hem of my skirt, pulled up my socks, and hurriedly started to run at the train and managed to jump on as soon as it started moving.

"That was a close one," somebody laughed. It was Amu, one of my good friends. "Care to explain your lateness?"

"Urgh," I groaned. "My mom was going all psychic on me and warning me of a new encounter or something. Whatever. Where's Utau?"

Amu made a face and fake-gagged. "Texting her _booooyfriienndd._"

"_Ooooh!_" I followed her example and mimed puking. "Let me guess – Mr. Number Thirty-seven is "the one"?"

Amu raised her eyebrows. "Actually, no. This is just, 'some guy I ran into over the summer'."

"Sounds romantic," I giggled.

"Oh, and have you seen Nade-chan? I need to..."

"Amu!" I said dully, quickly letting my laughter die. "Why would I have seen that frying pan? I have absolutely no intention to see her. _Ever._"

"You know?" Amu wrinkled her nose, making her look like a violent pink chipmunk who's choked on an apple core. "When did you start hating Nade-chan? She's so nice!"

"Nice?!" I spat. "That's precisely what I hate about her! She's so _nice! _And _likeable!_ Am I the only one who thinks that her little nice act is about as real as a stuffed vulture?"

"Don't lie," Yaya giggled from behind me. "You were friends with Nadeshiko since elementary school, right?"

"Friends? Like hell! We're sworn enemies!"

Yaya turned to Amu. "You see, it all started when Nade-chii transferred into Saints. She was so pretty, even back then, wasn't she? Kind of stole the show."

I didn't answer, because, well... it was totally true. It's so frustrating! Nadeshiko's practically one of the guys and yet they can all love her. She's gorgeous. She's athletic. She gets straight A's. And she's _nice_. I bet she has absolutely no problems or concerns.

Amu sighed irritably. "So you're jealous?"

"That's right! I'm totally jealous of that self-serving, self-satisfied, arrogant..."

"Hi, Nadeshiko!" somebody called, waving to someone behind me.

"WHERE?! COME OUT, YOU LITTLE – Utau?" I asked.

"I was kidding, shrimp," Utau said, slinging an arm around my shoulders. Utau is über-tall, probably because she's one grade ahead of us. You might ask, Okay. What is a tenth-grader doing with girls one year younger than her? Well, the truth is, the girls in Utau's grade don't really like her. Jealous, probably, because she's basically made out of the same material as Nadeshiko – tall, slim, gorgeous, boy magnet. So Utau either hangs out with us or with the eleventh-graders who sit on the corner and smoke.

"Who's this boyfriend you've been texting on your LG all day, now?" said Yaya coyly, raising her eyebrows significantly.

"None of your business," said Utau icily, flushing.

"He _the one_...?"

"Of course not." Utau stonewalled. Yaya ducked her head, disappointed.

"So... what's this about _Nade-chan?_" Utau snorted.

I made and odd whistling noise through my nose. "Nothing," I said, in a voice that clearly said that this was _not _nothing.

Utau bobbed her head slightly so that her pigtails swung. "I'm with you, Rima. That girl's so fake."

"Really?!" I said, thankful. Amu's mouth dropped open. "That's so mean! She just wants to be liked!"

"By who?" Utau shrugged. "Amu, the chick's a _burriko_*. I mean, Amu... have you ever noticed that you're the only girl that hangs out with her?"

Amu blinked. "Really?"

Utau nodded, fighting back a grin.

**(A/N: Burriko = somebody who puts on a girly act to attract men. A common concept in Arina Tanemura manga, the most common being Ai Minase from I-O-N.) **

"Come on," I tossed my hair and walked down the narrow hallway of the train. "Can we sit down? I'm going to get carpal tunnel just standing here."

Utau snorted, probably about to lecture me on carpal tunnel, but quickly shut up when she heard a beeping from her pocket. Before Utau could get at it, however, Yaya quickly dove for her flashing phone and picked it up. She obediently handed it to me. "Hello?" I said in my deadpan, looking sideways at the receiver. "Speak to... Utau? Hmmm? Are you _sure_? _Really sure_?" I covered up the receiver. "It's A BOY!!" I stated, throwing the phone to Utau. "HURRY. BEFORE HE HANGS UP."

"YOU BRATS ARE SO DEA - Kuuukai-kuuun?" she cooed into the phone, and we all mimed vomiting into a basin.

The rest of the train ride was spent playing MadLibs. Yaya is the best at this game. She can think up anything random, usually stuff like Potato and Pot Roast... but still.

When we got off the train, all the teachers were assembled, ready to harass us all onto the five-minute walk to the school. I heard an irritatingly tinkling laugh and I quickly ducked my head. "TELL HER I'M NOT HERE!"

"Fine!" Amu said huffily. "Yaya and I will go say hi by ourselves!"

"Famous last words," Utau said wisely. As they disappeared off into the crowd, she held out a cigarette. "Wanna smoke?"

"I don't smoke."

"Oh. Oh, right." Utau attempted to light the end with a lighter. All the teachers turned a blind eye as she turned to me, still attempting to swallow some carbon monoxide. "So, Rima... how was your summer? Didn't you go to the Caribbean?"

"Yeah," I shrugged.

"Meet anyone?" she said coyly.

"Yeah. There was this girl from Athens who..."

"Rima. I don't mean pen pals. I mean guys."

"I don't... do guys."

"That's what she said," Utau cackled, and I blushed. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah..." Utau looked thoughtful. "You know, guys are always lining up just to talk to you – why don't you give one of them a chance?"

"They're so disgusting," I said honestly. "They all suck up. Then it feels like they're using me."

Utau shrugged. "Whatever you say."

Amu and Yaya returned then, bursting with news. "Rima," they told me, "Nade-chan wanted to know what had happened to you!"

"Oh?" I said, looking at my nails with nonchalance. "Why?"

"She seemed awfully worried," Yaya said thoughtfully.

"Maybe she has a soft spot for Rima," Utau snorted, still inhaling toxic gases.

"Right," I rolled my eyes. I was getting kind of tired, as walking – or any type of physical activity, really – exhausted me. I was thankful to see the school looming up in the distance, a tall gothic-era structure. Sadly, the dormitories with all our beds and fires and luggage stocked with junk food were all still far away.

"You know what they need at this school?" Yaya complained grumpily. "Little cars for all the students, like the kind kids have that run on six double-A batteries..."

"It's not even noon yet, and I'm tired," Amu whined. "At least we don't have classes today."

We could have cried with happiness when we closed the gap between us and the school doors and were allowed into the central-heated entrance hall. It was packed with people from grade seven to grade twelve, and they all seemed to be wanting to go in a completely different direction than the next. Once you're used to it like I am, you know exactly what you have to do to combat the mob – shove.

One of the teachers got up and said loudly through a megaphone, "Line up beside the sign with your homeroom number on it, please! From there, you will be assigned to a dormitory room!" The teacher paused for a minute, and then added, "Oh, and no switching roommates!" to a chorus of groans.

"See you," Amu and Yaya said, and vanished. Hinamori was in A – G and Yuiki was in Q – Z, making me utterly alone in my homeroom. Utau, of course, had wandered off somewhere. I think she has a bit of a case of wanderlust.

When we were all assigned to our dormitories, I met back up with Yaya, Amu, and to our surprise Utau.

"Where were you?" I asked grumpily.

Utau shrugged. "What dormitories are you in?"

I looked at mine. "3K. East Wing."

Amu frowned. "I'm in North Wing. We're separated! That sucks!"

"Yeah, well..." I shrugged. "Oh well."

Yaya, however, looked positively excited. "This is great! We'll just have to sneak out at night to have our late-night parties."

"But, Yaya..." Amu said worriedly. "Last time we threw one of those, we got detention for six weeks!"

I shrugged. "So? Everybody was talking about it for twice that long after." I gazed ominously out the stained-glass window on the landing, dark aura coming out of nowhere and making Yaya sneeze. "If only that little prefect in her bathrobe hadn't caught us..."

"Nadeshiko was just doing her job!" Amu squeaked.

I screwed up my face, flipped my hair, and lifted my voice a couple octaves. " '_Goodness! It seems that Mashiro has been living in a cave for the past three weeks! I mean, that must be the only explanation as for why she thinks that final exam time is an opportunity to BREAK CUUUURRRRFEEEWWW!!_'"

Amu tried to hide her snort and didn't succeed, and Utau, bored, started trying to give herself cancer again by lighting another cigarette.

An eerie voice suddenly said, in a would-be nice voice, "If it isn't Mashiro and her little gang of troublemakers!"

"S-sensei?" Amu said in a frightened voice, turning around.

"WHY YES THIS IS YOUR SENSEI HINAAMORRIIIIIII!!!! HOSHINA DO NOT LIGHT CIGARETTES INSIDE IT IS A SERIOUS FIIRREE HAAZZAAARRRDDD!!!!! OOOOH, HOW FRIIIIIIGGGHHHTTTFULLLL!!!!"

"Dammit!" I cursed quietly to Yaya. "Miss Psycho is back! I thought she would have had a nervous breakdown over the summer or something!"

Miss Psycho shoved us all crazily down the stairs. "DON'T HANG AROUND OUR PRECIOUS SCHOOL LOITERING!!! GO TO YOUR DORMITORIES AND MESS THOSE UP INSTEAD!!! UUAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!'

"Crazy," I muttered forebodingly, but we all hightailed it out of the front doors and spilled out onto the front lawn along with everyone else. I suddenly saw a flash of dark hair.

CRAP.

My worst enemy turned around, violet-black hair swinging, and blinked a couple times, just to look a bit innocent. Nadeshiko could barely conceal her glee at having cornered me, and she flounced over to rub it in my face. Predictably. Because here's the thing – no matter how much we detest each other, catfights get old. Thus, we can't let on to anybody that we hate each other. At all costs. Which is why we have to pretend that we're best friends.

Nadeshiko gave her usual absolute-zero smile. 'Amu-chan! Yuiki-san! And...' her absolute-zero smile solidified into cement. 'Why, it's... _Ri-Ri-tan._ How is my favourite Lolita angel doing?"

"Shikorin." I felt my grin freeze. 'It's been too long.' We hugged awkwardly for the onlookers.

"_Midget_," Nadeshiko hissed in my ear.

"_Washboard_," I deadpanned back. We pulled back and smiled painfully. I gave her a murderous look. "WEELL, _Shikorin_. I have to go find my dormitory now."

"Yes," she nodded sycophantically. "Me too."

Amu waved. "Us, too. Bye, Nadeshiko-chan!"

I started off in the direction of the East Wing, and to my horror, Nadeshiko started following me. I started walking faster, intending to get rid of her, but she was keeping pace easily. Damn athletes!

Finally, I asked though gritted teeth, "Why are you stalking me?"

"Uhm, this is where my dormitory is," Nadeshiko said serenely.

I felt a cold fall on my shoulders and settle down somewhere near my stomach. "You mean... the East Wing?"

"Yeah," Nadeshiko nodded, looking at her (unbelievably short) nails with mild interest. "Why?"

"NO!" I yelled, grimacing. "YOU MEAN I'M STUCK IN A BUILDING WITH YOU?! I'LL NEVER GET ANY POST-CURFEW PARTIES THROWN!"

"Good," she said nastily, pushing open the door of the East Wing. I glanced at the first door. 1A. I started up the stairs, and she followed silently.

"Okay," I said, whirling around. "What dormitory are you in anyway?"

Nadeshiko eyed me distastefully. "Is that any way to treat a prefect?"

"Just hurry up and tell me!"

"My, my, how rude," she sighed and scanned her sheet. "3K."

There were several moments of silence, and I felt my mouth drop open like there were a dozen lead weights attached to my jaw. No. No. This was not happening. I'll wake up and this'll all be a bad dream and school wouldn't have started yet... Nadeshiko. Cannot. Be. My. Roommate.

Nadeshiko waved a hand in front of my face. "You dead? In a coma?" she laughed nastily under her breath. "You might not want to keep your mouth open like that."

"I – I..."

"Well-said," Nadeshiko said, being oh-so-empathetic.

"Y – You..." I stammered. "You can NOT be sharing a dormitory with me!"

Nadeshiko suddenly paled. "I'm rooming with somebody this year?"

"What do you – of course! Full-time boarders always do. You board full-time, don't you?"

Nadeshiko shook her head, still ignoring me. "I don't... stupid Grandmother."

"Grandmother?" I said blankly. I decided then that I needed to stop stammering.

"Yes," Nadeshiko said impatiently, "The headmistress – my grandmother – but..."

"You're _grandmother _is the – you know what? Never mind," I said crossly. "I'm going up to my dormitory and I don't care what you do, to be honest."

Nadeshiko followed me, muttering darkly under her breath, "No, no. This isn't happening. I know we were overcrowded this year, but..."

"Can you stop muttering to yourself?" I said frostily. Nadeshiko ignored me and threw open the door violently. She then pulled a roll of neon orange tape out of her bag.

"What are you going to do with that?!" I demanded, skittering around the edge of the wall to the bed farthest from the door. I was imagining a horrific scene where Nadeshiko held me still and tied me up.

She gave a non-committal sniff and deliberately drew out a long piece of tape. It was when she started trying to get the length of tape stuck to the carpet that I blustered, "What the _hell _are you doing?"

Nadeshiko regarded me with an eerie pleasantry. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"M-making a line with tape..."

"You're an intelligent one." Nadeshiko started to press it down. "This is my side. That is yours. You are not to cross over to my side."

"But – you – I – " I sputtered. "You get the window! And the kitchen! And the door!" I looked at the doorway on the other side of her. "And you even have the fricking BATHROOM!!"

Nadeshiko smiled eerily at me. "Goodness! How on earth did it ever end up like that?! What a bizarre twist of fate."

"That's not funny!" I snapped, teetering on the end of the carrot-coloured line. "How am I supposed to get out the door in the morning?"

Nadeshiko shrugged. "Dunno."

I glared, and Nadeshiko gave me a look that seemed almost like adoration. She probably gets a kick out of girls who hate her guts. Just when I thought she was going to give a sudden display of masochistic yuri, she peered at the clock that was over my shoulder. "Oh. It's seven o'clock."

"Huh?" I said blankly. She cleared her throat and stuck her head out of the 3K door. "OI!!"

Numerous girls who were frolicking in the hallways came to a standstill.

"LIGHTS OUT, BITCHES! GET THE HELL INTO YOUR BEDS! That means you too, Ri-Ri-tan. And make sure not to go over the line." She added sweetly to me over her shoulder.

"It's only seven!" I said in horror. "And don't call me _Ri-Ri-tan _in private," I added as an afterthought.

"Awww," Nadeshiko cooed, ignoring my last comment. "Little Ri-ri-tan is rebelling against her prefecty!"

"I don't have to do what you say!" I growled, starting to unpack my clothes into my closet. Nadeshiko just gave me an evil smirk. "Oh. Did I forget to mention? You do."

I stood fully up and rolled my eyes, an anger mark jumping behind my ear. "Sure."

"Well, let's start with your end-of-term marks from last year!" Nadeshiko sang, giggling and unfolding a piece of manila paper. "First off, math with fifty-three percent, close shave there..."

"HEY!" I yelled, jumping for my report card. Nadeshiko held it above her head where I couldn't reach it, still laughing maniacally. "Ri-ri-tan, if I were you I'd get back on your side of the room."

"How did you get that?!" I demanded, still fishing for it frantically.

"Tsk, tsk!" Nadeshiko sang. "Privileges! Headmistresses' granddaughters have access to permanent records..." She seemed to pity me enough, though, because she handed the report card back. "There. Happy now?"

"... Not really," I said mournfully. "This is bringing back bad memories."

Nadeshiko, ignoring me as usual, snapped her fingers. "Who cares about bad memories? It's bedtime!" She stared disapprovingly at me. "I have to wake up at four-thirty tomorrow, you know! I have rowing!"

"Stop nagging me like an old lady!" I said, pulling out my pajama top and taking off my uniform shirt. Nadeshiko suddenly stopped dead. "What are you doing?"

I attempted to unhook my bra and hold her gaze at the same time. "What does it _look _like I'm doing?"

"Getting undressed... but..." her face flooded red, and I took advantage of her temporary weakness. "Is Nade-chan uncomfortable with her body?" I snorted, pulling on my shirt.

"NO," she said hastily, averting her gaze. "It's really..."

"We're all girls here," I said testily. "if you're so shy, go change in the bathroom instead of gawking like a pervert."

"God, no," Nadeshiko muttered darkly under her breath, but shut the door resolutely behind her. She fiddled with the lock for about five minutes.

I spent a few minutes happily making up reasons why Nadeshiko would be so paranoid about changing, but quickly decided to get in bed before the Ickle Prefecty made me. That was when I heard a thud and a small shriek.

_What the hell is that girl doing in there_? I thought irritably. I was about to go to sleep when it suddenly hit me. What if she had gotten assaulted by ninjas? Those creepy things are everywhere! That would explain the thumping. And the shrieking.

I went up to the bathroom door and knocked hesitantly. "... Fujisaki? Are you okay?"

Silence.

"Fujisaki?!" I said louder.

Still nothing.

I tried the door. _THE STUPID BITCH LOCKED IT!!_ I thought furiously to myself. I scratched my head, feeling increasingly dim standing in front of a door like it was the gateway to Narnia, when my fingernail caught on a piece of metal in my hair. When I pulled it out, I realized it was a hairpin. It's a sign from heaven!

I wiggled the hairpin in the lock a couple times, and heard a satisfying click. With reckless abandon, I pushed the door open. "Fujisaki?!" I called, and felt my voice die.

Nadeshiko looked up, puzzled, from the ground. Her shirt was off and crumpled in her lap, and her hair spilled down one shoulder. But what was so appalling was her slender white chest that was so utterly flat and masculine that there was absolutely no doubt in my mind.

Fujisaki Nadeshiko, most beloved girl in school – was undeniably a boy.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, I hope you like this new story of mine. I guess it's not up into the _love _just yet – I mean, it's pretty marginal, and it's AU as well so the universe is totally new. But w/e. And remember, Rima isn't calling him Nagihiko yet because nobody told her what his real name is.**

**Trivia:**

**- St. Aleydis was a real Catholic saint.**

**- St. Aleydis is also the name of a Catholic boarding school in one of my manga plots. Hence where I got the name.**

**- This story was definitely, DEFINITELY more-than-a-little inspired by Maria+Holic.**


	2. 男

**Kimi-chan DID own Shugo Chara, but damn PEACH-PIT had to buy those rights back!! Kimi will not rest until she no longer has to put TM on the ends of things... but meanwhile, yeah she ain't don't own no anime!! **

**Hey, Kiddies: Don't attempt rape on your roommates. Unless you're a pedobear. Then, it's A-OK!**

Chapter Two

男

_*_

_But what was so appalling was her slender white chest that was so utterly flat and masculine that there was absolutely no doubt in my mind. _

_Fujisaki Nadeshiko, most beloved girl in school – was undeniably a boy. _

Nadeshiko got the odd look on her – his – face that you get when somebody drops a frying pan on your head. Then his, her, whatever's face became extremely vague and unreadable.

"YOU'RE A GUY!" I shouted, just to fill the utter silence.

"And when did you figure that out, Captain Obvious?" Nadeshiko said emotionlessly.

"UHHHH. JUST NOW."

He stood up impassively and faced me in one fluid movement. "Well."

_This isn't happening. _

"I see we have a problem here."

_He wouldn't. _

"So, Rima-chan, let's get a few things straight here." He narrowed his eyes.

_I can't let anybody find out. _With a shaking foot, I took one step back and he caught me by my shirt collar. _Thud. _I hit the wall a full foot off the ground so that I was staring him in the eyes. My heartbeat picked up almost immediately and my breathing quickened. I itched to run away, and I fought to keep my face void of any fear. The only feeling that seemed to get through was fury at myself for letting myself get cornered.

"Do not tell anybody."

Like anyone would believe me.

"Do not even THINK of blackmail; I have way more stuff on you than you could scrape up in twenty years."

No comment.

"And thirdly, do not criticize the poster of C.C. I secretly hide under my mattress."

Forgetting the very scary situation I was in, I goggled at him. "C.C.? From Code Geass?" He must have a fetish for green-haired girls. Dendrophiliac.

"Whatever!" He gave me a very squinty-eyed look. "Do you get that?"

I made an odd strangled noise.

"... I _said_..." Nadeshiko gave me a nasty look, "Do you..."

I tried to hold back the scream building in my throat. By now, I would have definitely admitted it more happily to ANYBODY but the boy in my presence in that moment. I was afraid of men. Big deal! I never told anybody why I went to an all-girl's school and nobody ever asked. Problem solved.

Until now.

Until stupid Nadeshiko decided to mess up my life.

I mean, I had always been a bit afraid of her but never in THAT WAY, so this was a bit of a...

"STOP IT!" I yelled louder than I had meant, lashing out like a psycho, and in the moment of shock Nadeshiko let me fall to the floor.

... nasty surprise.

I didn't move an inch, just started hyperventilating. Nadeshiko eyed me apprehensively. I could literally hear his brain working. Click-click-click. The noise was nauseating, and I tried to take another step back but the wall was in my way. He had just put two-and-two together fantastically quick, and I tried to wipe my eyes on my sleeve without him seeing.

He started humming something under his breath and it was only until he started singing the lyrics did I realize why. "_Rima-tan's scared of boooys, Rima-tan's scared of boooys..."_

"NOT FUNNY!!" I shouted, and sulkily went to bed and buried myself under the covers.

Yes. It was going to be a looong semester.

*

It seemed only maybe ten minutes later that I felt my bed move. Sleepily, I reached out one hand to swat whatever it was off the mattress, but to my horror whatever-it-was caught my wrist and started pulling me out from under my duvet.

"L-let go of me!" I gasped, finally opening my eyes a crack to see the soft fuzzy outline of Nadeshiko, and all the memories of last night came flooding back. She was in her PE uniform, looking particularly gleeful at catching me asleep. "Wake up, lazy-ass! Classes start today!"

"Wh-what... time is it?" I took my other arm, ignoring her, and grabbed the clock off my nightstand. The angry red letters screamed 4:57. _IN THE MORNING_?!

"CLASSES DON'T START FOR ANOTHER _TWO-AND-A-HALF-HOURS!!_" I shouted furiously, gritting my teeth.

"Hm?" Nadeshiko looked up from where he'd been sitting on my legs and picking at a loose thread in my comforter. "Well, yeah, but I have rowing that starts in about twenty minutes."

"Then why don't you go out the door _quietly _without waking your _roommate _up like the _kind, considerate _little BASTARD you are!" I snapped, and rolled over. I couldn't get back to sleep again, however, so I sat up again just in time to see Nadeshiko skipping out the door, ALEYDIS ROWING emblazoned across his bag, with a bunch of cinnamon buns in a paper bag. "Well, I guess I'll just give these out to my rowing club friends instead~"

"NADESHIKOOOO!!!" I shouted, rolling out of bed and running at him. Of course, as soon as I did he lifted the bag over my head. I attempted a hop to get at them but sadly he was much taller than me. "That's not my name, by the way."

"Huh?" I stopped jumping.

"That's not my name. Do you seriously think I'd actually have such an un-manly name like that?"

"Like... what?"

"Nadeshiko," he said, plan irritation etched all over his face. "When we're alone, I guess you'd better call me Nagihiko, my real name. Or else it'll sound weird."

"Na... gi... hiko?" I asked.

"What?"

"Nothing. I was just trying it out."

He rolled his eyes and walked out with the paper bag. "GET BACK WITH THOSE!" I yelled, but all he did was wave an airy hand in farewell at me. And then I realized that, for the first time in my life, I was up before seven o'clock as the clock now read 5:02.

*

"Nadeshiko-chan woke you up at five?" Amu asked, startled. She played with a bit of her rosy hair furiously. "Are you sure?"

"Of course I am," I grumbled. "H-she had rowing."

"I'm sure it was all just an accident," my friend said airily, biting into a Danish. We were in the lineup for breakfast, and it was seven fifteen. Yaya was probably still sleeping, and Utau was off somewhere, presumably smoking. "It was not an accident!" I told Amu hotly. "That bo-girl is out to ruin my life and I'll prove it to y-"

"Amu-chan?" Nagihiko said sweetly, sweeping up to us. His eyes gleamed with amusement and I could definitely tell he had heard what I'd said. "And Ri-Ri-tan too! You're looking AS CUTE AS ALWAYS. HOW YOU'LL DO IT I WILL NEVER KNOW."

"Don't be ridiculous!!!" I giggled, flashing him a look of hate. "I COULD NEVER, EVER HOPE TO MEASURE UP TO SUCH A LEVEL AS YOURS, SHIKORIIIIIIIIINN."

He raised his voice. "YOU'RE RIGHT, YOU WON'T, BUT THAT'S NO REASON TO GET DISCOURAGED NOW – "

" – OH, AND YOU'RE SO NICE TOO, GOD KNOWS HOW YOU EVER GOT THAT WAY, IT MUST HAVE SET IN WHEN YOUR MOTHER DROPPED YOU ON YOUR HEAD AT BIRTH – "

" – WELL, IN MY OPINION, ALL THAT LEAD PAINT ON THE BARS OF YOUR CRIB WERE TO BLAME FOR – "

"OOOOOOOOOOHHHH HOW HOOOORRRIIIBLLLLEEE!!! MASHIRO AND FUJISAKI YOU WILL NOT YELL IN THE CAFETERIA NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU SEEM TO WANT TO KEEP COMPLIMENTING EACH OTHER!!!! EEUUUURRGGHHHH!!!!"

"Make me!" I snapped.

"Yes, Sensei," said Nagihiko beautifully, straightening up. "I am _so _sorry."

I glared at him, but he simply took advantage of my silence to stroke my cheek in what looked like a sisterly manner to everyone that was watching. "I'll see you later, Rima-chan."

*

Though a amazing twist of luck, Nagihiko wasn't in any of my classes. My new homeroom teacher was the hissy-fit Yukari Sanjo who, upon my first day in attendance, shooed me over to the corner.

"Now, Mashiro-san, I'm sure you're incredibly disappointed because you aren't in the same class as your friend, Fujisaki-san, but we thought this year that... you know... you might socialize instead of working. And you clearly can't afford that this year." Stern look; glasses flash. I nodded emphatically, trying to look glum. "NO, NO!! THAT'S OKAY!!"

Yaya wasn't so lucky; she landed in Nagihiko's class as well with the new slacker-ass homeroom teacher. But to my joy, Amu was in my class.

Which would have been awesome if she had stopped whining about how she would have liked 'Nade-chan' in her class too.

"Will you just _shut up _about her?" I finally grumbled, halfway through geography. Sanjo stopped dead and nailed me with her meganekko glasses that flashed again, only menacingly. "Something you'd like to share, Mashiro?"

"N-No."

She gave me a frightening scowl, which I was to find out later meant that she was in a foul, coffee-deprived mood and ready to take out her caffeine-lacking frustrations on an unlucky student. "Well then, you certainly wouldn't mind enlightening us on the capital of the Aichi Prefecture, would you?"

Silence. I was about to stammer out 'Niigata' (which I had a nagging feeling wasn't right) when a pleasant voice said, "Please, Sensei, it's Nagoya. May I borrow Mashiro-san for a minute, please?" Nagihiko shot me a look of vindictive pleasure, his face reading something along the lines of.... _HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA. _

I stood up. "No, h-she can't. I have work to do, right, Yukarin-chan?" Don't ask me where the nickname came from.

"Don't call me Yukarin, I – " She was struggling with the authority of the Popular Girl Charisma Nagihiko was emitting and I prayed that it didn't affect her.

"It'll only be _five minutes_," Nagihiko promised, starting to dig his heels in.

"But I can't spare five minutes, my grades depend on i – "

"Really; Sanjo-sensei. It'll take no time, NO TIME AT A – "

" – NEED THE MARKS – "

" – HARDLY SOMETHING WORTH – "

" – STUPID – "

" – STUBBORN – "

" – SHUT UP!!!" Yukari suddenly roared at the top of her lungs like a raging espresso-starved Godzilla. "JUST – JUST SHUT UP! GOD!" she glowered at the part of us shooting daggers from across the classroom. There goes that fake-friendship we kept up in public. To my horror, a couple people _giggled_. Was this funny?

Stupid Nagihiko stuck the magic words. "My grandmother wants her, Sanjo-sensei."

She stiffened. No way would Yukari go against the Headmistress. I, myself, had never seen her and was completely at a loss as to what she'd want with me and why she had sent Nagihiko.

"Well then, Mashiro, off you go," Yukari said briskly. I stared at her, openmouthed.

"GO!!" Godzilla shouted again, and kicked us out the door.

*

"What does your grandmother want me for?" I snapped at him as soon as we were out in the hallway. "I – "

"Shhhhh." He gave me the Disapproving-Prefect look. "That was just an excuse. I really just want to spend time with my Ri-Ri-tan."

I felt my face go red. "Wh-Wha – "

"_Kidding_." The stupid little cross-dresser rolled his eyes. "And, I dunno."

He started off at a brisk pace down the hallway, passing the occasional student that squealed, "Hi, Nadeshiko-chan!" Nobody questioned why Mashiro Rima was with her. They were just best _fucking _buddies and so it was natural that they would ditch class together.

After three flights of stairs, though, I was getting pretty tired of my fictional best-buddy. Honestly, this school's too big.

"Can't you" – _pant – _"stop for" – _pant_ – "a minute?" I gasped out, as he started climbing the fourth staircase.

"THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!" Seeing teenage-boy humor come out of someone in a skirt was something I didn't think I'd see. However, because I am a gracious lady and not a particular male cross-dressing sadist I decided to ignore it.

And keep climbing stairs.

*

"She's ready for you," the secretary, Shion **(A/N: No, not the **_**Higurashi **_**girl you sillies, the filler character!)**, informed me. She filed her nails and continued reading her boring book as I shuffled in meekly, fairly sure they had just made me wait for show.

When I went inside, the first thing I saw was a black leather swivel chair turned around with such a high back that I couldn't see who was in it. Nagihiko was lolling against the opposite wall, looking like a mafia godfather's lapdog. He had taken out his ponytail and pulled off his blazer so that he looked remotely masculine (if you overlooked the skirt he still had on). Maybe my cross-dresser comments had finally hit home?

When I was distracted by pondering this, I didn't notice the chair turn around so I was looking at a scary-looking lady with crow's feet. Since the plaque on her desk said, "Headmistress Fujisaki", I had no choice but to automatically assume this was the poor soul that had to raise Nadeshiko.

"Um..." I started, seeing the lady's eyes flash menacingly, but she quickly smiled. "Have a seat, Mashiro-san."

I reluctantly sat in the seat farthest away from the desk, but it meant I was looking directly at Nagihiko. I quickly shuffled one seat over.

"Now." She started twirling a pen distractedly, staring out the window. "It seems that you've discovered Nadeshiko's little secret, doesn't it?"

"Grandma, you can call me Nagihiko, you know." Nagihiko was staring the opposite way, immersed in a couple of Ph.D's and Military General of the Year awards on the other wall.

"Whatever." She glared at him. "Anyway, Mashiro-san, you see that this poses a bit of a problem. If anybody else were to find out, I'd be forced to expel Fujisaki-san because Aleydis has a strict girls-only policy."

I found my voice again. "What's wrong with that?" Nagihiko's head snapped up and Grandma's eyes widened. "Then he wouldn't have to cross-dre – er, pretend to be a girl, right?"

Fujisaki-sensei scratched the back of her head uncomfortably. "Well, I'm Fujisaki-san's legal guardian," she said vaguely. "And I live here full-time."

Doesn't he have any other relatives she can shove him off on? Scratch that, why doesn't she shove him off on his _parents_? "Don't his parents have some kind of objection to – "

"Shut up," Nagihiko spat, suddenly flaring up. "That's totally irrelevant."

I instinctively backed up, and he went back to studying the certificates on the wall. Fujisaki-sensei went on like it never even happened. "Like I said. If anyone finds out, this is bad, so we're going to ask you keep this to yourself. Alright, Mashiro-san?"

"Yeah. Okay." I said blankly. What do they think I'll do, photocopy a picture and stick it up all over the school?

She gave me a wan smile. "Okay, that's good, Mashiro-san. May I call you Rima?"

"You can call me Mashiro-san."

"Excellent, Rima-chan. Like I was saying, this helps immensely, so I have another suggestion."

I stayed silent, and Nagihiko's attention was suddenly back on the current conversation at hand.

"I'll leave it up to you, then, to make sure Nagihiko's secret doesn't get out – "

"I don't need a bodyguard, thanks," the conversation topic said frigidly.

"Don't be ridiculous," Grandma cut him off. Pwned. "This has been a concern for a long time, especially because of your ridiculous fondness for joining sports teams. Do you realize how many girls you've indirectly sexually harassed in the past y – "

"GRANDMA!" he shouted, flushing. Clearly Nagihiko has a moé – oh yeah, not to mention pervert – side.

Glare. This was getting very scary. "I don't think I can do that," I said as nicely as I could.

Fujisaki-sensei gave me a creepy grin. "Well, Rima-chan, I don't think you have much of a choice."

"Oh, yeah?" I said, which was probably not a very nice way to talk to a teacher but I was pissed off.

"Perhaps we'll give a call to your parents," she said, feeling around for the phone so that she could keep her head up and grinning at me. "I think they'd like to hear about the _disorderly conduct _you've had in the past. Curfew breaking. Minor pranks. Amakawa-sensei seems to have informed me of a firecracker you set off behind his porta-potty."

I had the maniac urge to suppress a laugh, quickly wiping the scene from last June out of my head. "U-uh... will that really be necessary?"

"You'll do it, then?" Fujisaki-sensei asked, beaming. "Wonderful."

"Hang on," I barked. "Am I getting paid for this?"

"Oh? You'd like to get paid?" the creepy grin was back, and suddenly I realized that this lady should probably not be messed with. "Here you go then. Your salary for this week."

She passed me several food stamps.

Brilliant.

* * *

**A/N: I know, early update owo I meant to upload every Tuesday, but I started feeling guilty as hell because I know that a lot of people are cooped up in their houses over Easter/Spring Break with nothing to do this weekend -- so -- here's a present! I'm on break now, too, which means I can maybe finish chapter five by Monday. That'd be nice. **

**Plus, I left you on a cruel cliffie. And I know that the last time I left on a cliffhanger, I went poof for several months, so YEAHHH 8'DDD**


	3. 夢

**A/N: I'm sorry, I'm an update monster xDD**

**Ffffff, we get minor yuri themes in this chapter. But they're roughly in ****kindergarten/grade one at this time, so it doesn't really count. **

**Hey, kiddies: Always throw paper into the RECYCLING, not the garbage like bad Rima and Nagi!**

Chapter Three

夢

_*_

After a while of this ridiculous sham that my ninth-form was shaping up to be, I eventually fell into a sub-conscious toleration of Nagihiko. I mean, at least we weren't at each other's throats yet. Actually, he wasn't that bad once you got over the horror of living with a boy. But it was still hell and I'll tell you why.

For one thing, it's not like I could just shove tampons in a drawer. The whole menstrual-system complication had to be a top-secret operation or I got PMS jokes for the next five days. Bras, underwear, etcetera couldn't just be discarded in the morning when I was in a rush. They had to compiled into the forbidden drawer if I wasn't wearing them, or else the scornful comments about my A-cup would start showing up in conversation. Changing had at least somehow worked out – I ended up changing in my closet every morning and he opted for the bathroom.

You've probably heard people complain about how long women take in the bathroom, but clearly those people have never met Nagihiko. It takes the vain little peacock an hour on average for him to be satisfied with his looks, and even then he'll often comb his hair furiously on the way to school. It makes you wonder how he was raised.

After lots of feuding, tired eyes, and early mornings, he and I eventually worked out a kind of routine. It went something along the lines of:

_4:55 AM: Nagihiko wakes me up _(With new and unpleasant tactics every morning. Yesterday it was death metal.)

_5:00 AM: Go back to sleep until 7. _

_7:00 AM: Nagihiko comes back from rowing and wakes me up for the second time _(With another unpleasant tactic)_. Get dressed for school and all that. _

_7:30__ AM: Nagihiko leaves to do some brownnosing job. I go down to eat breakfast._

_8:00 AM: Socialize. _

_8:30__ AM: School starts_.

From all of Nagihiko's grumblings, I had found out about the new teacher. His name was Yuu Nikaidou, and apparently he was more flyaway than a tissue in a blizzard. He came in every day looking like he had walked off the set of _The Wizard of Oz _during the tornado scene and basically taught the same way, waving the pointer everywhere and struggling to keep his class (who spoke so loud, Nagihiko ranted, that they might as well have been saying _zawa-zawa _like in a manga) under control. What I failed to hear from Nagihiko was that despite how much he seemed to dislike the teacher, as class rep he managed to keep them all relatively in line.

Meanwhile, Amu had no such moral fibre as the selected class representative; she was prone to just hunching up her shoulders and trying to ignore it. Luckily, Yukari Sanjo managed to scare our class into silence easily since day one. She was a coffee-crazed monster if she hadn't had her Starbucks fix, but as long as there was a coffee cup on her desk she was cool and indifferent. This personality change was even scarier than when she was yelling at us.

In fact, so preoccupied was I with the things listed above that I had totally forgot about my "bodyguard" duties. Nagihiko told me since the beginning that he didn't need one, and he seemed to do fine without. The weekly food stamps I was receiving via inter-school mail were stuck up on the wall, where various Akihitos and other Japanese political figures glared down at the pair of us whenever we walked in the door.

Blissfully forgotten, that is, until Yukari said in her cool and indifferent voice, "And please bear in mind, that the physical exam is on Monday."

There were several groans and screams; all the girls hated stripping down so that doctors could take our measurements. I myself never really liked listening to some snotrag inform me that I had gained thirteen pounds since last semester. _Let's all cross our fingers and pray that Nadeshiko's gained a lot of weight since _– _hang on._

I suddenly pitched forward in my desk and inwardly groaned. Nagihiko – like I'd forget – obviously had a male anatomy (I flushed, automatically getting a mental image). How had he gotten past physical examinations, anyway? Was I supposed to do something about it? He had been attending Aleydis since as long as I could remember. How did the last exam go? We had been doing the full, take-off-your-shirt-and-let-me-see-how-much-your-boobs-have-grown exam since about grade seven. Which, now that I think about it, "Nadeshiko" hadn't attended for the past two years. The first time, "she" had been "sick", and the second time "she" had just skipped altogether. Is this how he sidesteps having to strip like the rest of us?

"Aren't you scared, class rep?" one (stupid) girl asked Amu, shattering my thoughts.

Amu looked like a deer in headlights. "N-no, I..." she straightened up and narrowed her eyes. "P-Please. It's no big deal. They do this for a living, right?" Amu rolled her eyes as her Default Personality took over and I stifled a laugh.

Just then, the bell sounded twelve times, signalling lunchtime. By the third ring, the classroom had been emptied of laughing girls and was instead stuffed around the doorways with very angry, ravenous she-devils that wanted their lunch. "STAND BACK!" Yukari barked, and immediately everyone shuffled back and went through in a more orderly fashion.

In the cafeteria, I threw a chocolate chip muffin, a cookie, and a carton of chocolate milk onto my tray. Amu's gaze radiated disapproval (stupid salad-eater) but soon evaporated once she got a look at what Yaya's tray contained. Every day school was in session, me and Yaya made sure to eat the most unhealthy crap for lunch, since there wasn't any parents here to make us eat vegetables. Except for Amu. Who didn't count.

"Is it really wise to be eating things like that around this time?" a voice trilled annoyingly behind me, and I whirled around to see a smirking Nagihiko. Why the hell had I been worrying about the creep? It's not like it was my business.

"Why? What's wrong with muffins?" I gave him a look of extreme dislike.

"Oh, nothing," he said airily, grinning maliciously. "If you don't mind having muffin tops to match... and I don't think you can afford that."

I attempted to kick him but he slid out of the way and glanced around nervously; people were starting to stare.

Cue happy best-friend mode.

"Thanks for being so concerned about me, though!" I gave him my fake moé smile. "That makes me soooo happy~" Sarcasm intended.

"Oh, it's no problem!" Smile. "I'm always happy to look out for mai Rima-chan."

"..." I had nothing to reply to this, so I just gave him an I'll-kill-you-later look and swept off with my tray. I could still feel his evil glance boring into my back.

_I can't catch myself worrying about my sworn enemy_. That's like playing right into his hands. I had almost forgot in the past month, had almost started to regard the idiot as a friend, and I wanted to kick myself for it.

"Are you okay, Mashiro-san?" A girl with hazelnut buns on either side of her head – Manami, from our class – stared at me worriedly, and I realized I was twisting my straw into a tight knot. I hastily dropped the loop of plastic and rearranged my features into an innocent look. "Of course."

She and Amu both smiled warily at me. Clearly I was acting like some kind of psycho Yandere.

_And it's all his fault, that little demon, that little septic power-crazy __predator, cause of all my misfortune – _

The bell rang.

*

When I arrived at the wooden door that spelled _3K _in accursed golden letters, I almost slipped on a stack of envelopes outside. Picking them up, I read who it was addressed to. _Nadeshiko Fujisaki. Nadeshiko Fujisaki-san. Nade-kin Fujisaki-sama. Shikorin-dono_. Why the heck is Nagihiko getting so many damn letters? Walking inside, I opened one up.

_Dear Nadeshiko-san..._

_I can't believe I'm saying this. It's so unreal. But I really couldn't keep this shut up any longer. Nadeshiko-san, I really, really, really, really...._

I scanned down to the bottom of the letter.

_Really, really, really like you! I always watch the back of your head during class, and sometimes I even foll__ow you home. I sometimes look through your garbage for..._

I quickly stuffed it back into its envelope. How disturbing! "Nadeshiko-san" has got a stalker! Who confessed to her own crime!

I went through the rest of the letters, and suddenly found one at the back, addressed to "Rima-chan."

_Rima-chan,_

_Hello! It's Mama! She's been missing you so she decided to write a letter. Remember the first year you started school, we wrote letters about five times a week? But now Rima-chan doesn't write anymore... it makes Mama lonely! _

Eyeroll.

_Bakatan is doing fine. He swallowed the remote the other day and we had to take him to the vet to get surgery. _

He was probably trying to change the channel from _Oprah _and _Dr. Phil. _

_So now our half-digested remote can't change the channel, and it's stuck on National Geographic. You should see, Rima, there was this prehistoric animal that lived around 1200 BC... _

She rambled on about dinosaurs for a while, and I skipped to the end of the letter.

_Now, Rima, don't forget, always practice safe sex, and --- _

Hold on a minute! Where the _hell_ did this come from!? I moved up a few lines.

_Your headmistress called the other day, explaining that situation with Fujisaki-san. How shocking! Although she always seemed quite manly from your depictions. _

I'M SORRY... WHAT?!

_Well, I'm very happy for the both of you. Now, Rima, don't forget to always practice safe sex and know that there are Family Planning resources available, should you – _

Oh, shitbricks. This was really suckish.

"Letters for me?" I turned around to see Nagihiko almost nose-to-nose with me. I yelped and backed off. "Personal space?!"

"Sorry," he said, although he didn't sound quite sorry at all. He started playing with his hair because he knew it annoyed me.

"Here," I got the inch-thick stack of love letters and handed them to him. "They _do _think you're a girl, right?"

"Huh?" he unfolded the one that I had re-packaged. "Oh no. Not this girl again."

"You get these on a _regular basis?!_"

"Yeah..." he didn't seem to want to elaborate, only dumped the rest in the trash. I finished reading my mother's rambling about the Prehistoric Sea Turtle, and let it fall into the wire bin. I was watching it fall with mild interest when a slender, white hand caught it. As I slowly looked up in horror, Nagihiko started reading it with a maniac grin.

"HEY!" I shouted, jumping for it, but he just held it up higher. "You own a cat? That eats _remote controls?_" He burst out laughing. When he was finished, he put it down and quoted, "_Now, Rima, don't forget to practice safe sex, and _–"

"Shut up!" I growled, still jumping for the letter.

"We should frame this!"

"ARG!"

"Next to the food stamps!"

"YOU GIVE THAT BACK, OR – "

"And then we can – " he got cut off abruptly as I fell forward with the intent of strangling him but tripped instead (over another letter, methinks).

"Owwwww." I groaned, sitting up. Something had broken my fall, and it took me several seconds to realize that it had been Nagihiko's body. Slowly, I realized that I had ended up knocking him down so that he lay on the floor staring up at me; and to my horror, I realized that I had braced my hands against his chest to break my fall, leaving us in... a very compromising position.

For once, he was at a loss for words – his brown eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly open. With his arms around my waist. Oh, Dear God. Shoot me.

He seemed to be attempting a witty comment, and successfully came up with a "somebody works fast," as I rolled off him feeling the awkwardness thicken like pudding.

Trying to change the subject, I realized there were three more letters on the table, all with the Aleydis school crest on it. They were all addressed to a different person – one to me, one to "Nadeshiko Fujisaki", and another that had "Nagihiko" scrawled across it in loopy writing. I tossed the two of them to the addressee, who was still on the floor. My own said:

_Dear Mashiro Rima;_

_Please keep in mind that your physical health exam will be on Monday, October 10th. Report to your homeroom at 8:15. _

_Sincerely, _

_Aleydis Faculty_

Nagihiko had already thrown the one addressed to Nadeshiko in the trash, and was now scanning the other letter. He paled.

"What?" I asked him, and he just shook his head numbly. "Little... evil... stupid..."

"WHAT?" I said louder, and he glared at me. "Shut up. Ever heard of noise pollution?"

"Why are you looking like the apocalypse is coming?" I demanded. "Does it have to do with me?"

"Yes," he grunted, throwing the piece of paper at me, and stomping into the bathroom.

_Nagihiko-kun,_

_It has come to my attention that you've been skipping Health Exams for quite some time. This is not tolerated in the Fujisaki household. Kindly report to your homeroom at 8:15, please. _

_Fujisaki-sensei. _

Scary Bananas. Could a letter be more intimidating?

"N-Nagihiko?" I knocked on the bathroom door hesitantly.

"Go away!" came a muffled reply.

"Are you okay?" I decided to just ignore the fit he was throwing.

"No!" Why the hell was he throwing such a fit? It was just a stupid health exam.

"..." I attempted to pick the lock with a bent safety pin but the damn locks were foolproof. That little demon got all the locks replaced after I successfully picked the lock one time. "Nagihiko, god dammit – if you don't open up this door right away them I swear to God I'll..."

"You're just making me want to keep it shut longer!" he shouted back, and I took a deep, shuddering breath. "Come on, Nagihiko... you're acting like a little kid. What will it take for you to come out?"

There was silence for several moments, and then he opened the door a crack so that his one of his dark terra-cotta eyes glittered back maliciously at me. "What will you do if I come out?"

"Nothing!" I barked, and then he closed the door again. "Fine, then."

"I – wait – what do you _want _me to do?" I demanded, feeling like I was being pawned in some way. I could practically feel the trademark smirk radiating through the door. "I'd have to think about it."

I slid down the wall so that I was in a sitting position with my feet splayed out, and grabbed the package of giant marshmallows that I hid behind the bookcase. "No, seriously. Can you please just get out so that..."

"Shhhhh!" I sincerely resented being told to "Shhhhh" from outside a bathroom door. "I've got it."

"What now?" I said, with the merest hint of a growl in my voice, gnawing on a marshmallow furiously.

"I know what you can do to get me to come out."

"What?"

"Well, you could always dance to a cheer routine, singing about how great Nadeshiko is, or I could make you be my sex slave, or – "

"NO."

"Well then, I see we'll have a problem here."

"Why don't you just make me... I dunno... look, can you just come out?"

"Sure." He stood in the doorway suddenly, with the light from the bathroom window shining behind him so that he looked a little like a celestial being. "If you kiss me."

I nearly gagged on my third marshmallow. "Wh-What?"

"Yeah, I knew you'd be too scared to do it. You probably have no experience..."

"I- I- " My cheeks were flaming red. "Of course I've got experience! You stupid, idiotic..."

He patted me on the head like a senile old grandfather as he walked past me into the main room. "Don't worry, I would never hit on experience-less little midgets like you."

"YOU – " I just glared at him and threw a marshmallow at his retreating back. "You'll be sorry you ever said that!"

"What'cha gonna dooo?" he said, in exaggerated yanki slang. Please, please don't tell me he picked that up by being in the yakuza. "Throw another marshmallow at me?" As he said this, he sauntered out of the room and shut the door noisily behind him.

The moment I heard his footsteps fade, I fell back unconsciously into my chasm of worry. I still felt it my stupid responsibility to take care of Nagihiko – I think it might have been the mother instinct Amu's dad is always talking about. Maybe it was because he was practically a little boy, rude and rash and prone to tantrums (when he wasn't being a calculating prig, that is). Either way, I felt angry at myself for even worrying and wanted to smash something. Why was I catching myself worrying about my archnemesis so damn often now? It was like I had forgotten that he, or _she_, had been my main rival for so long.

Nagihiko didn't seem like he'd be coming back anytime soon, so I flopped down on my bed dejectedly and closed my eyes.

"_Rima-chan!"_

"_What?" _

"_What are you doing over here, silly?" She yanks the fairer girl to her feet, dark hair glittering like tiny amethysts in her hair. "I'm getting lonely. You have to play with me."_

_She says it with an authority that she knows she has, that she's her special favourite so she'd better do what she says. _

"_Can it be later? I'm tired." _

"_How can you be tired." It was a purely rhetorical question. _

"_Not much sleep..."_

"_You sleep like a log, Rima-chan! You can tell me what's wro—" the taller girl cut off abruptly as the smaller wheat-headed girl bust into tears as she launched herself into the other girl's arms. Burying her face into the crook of the paler girl's neck, she managed to mumble through her tears, "N-Nade-chan... they told me... they aren't going to live together. Mommy says that she and Daddy don't love each other anymore!" _

"_Is that all that's wrong?" the other girl said, brushing some loose hairs off the other girl's head and smiling nonchalantly. "Who cares about your parents? They brought this upon themselves. I'm just angry because it's making _you _upset." She suddenly swept the much shorter girl up in her arms in an astonishing display of strength, much like a groom would carry his newlywed bride. "You shouldn't let it bother you, Rima-chan. Because if it bothers you, it bothers me, and then that makes me sad. Which makes you sad. Right?" _

_The blonder girl giggled and wound her tiny arms around her neck. "When I grow up, Nade-chan, I think I'm going to marry you." _

"_Of course." She bounced the girl in her arms up a little. "I'll be waiting." _

*

I gritted my teeth. The blood to my legs was getting cut off from being in the _seiza _position for so long, and the room was _freezing_. "Stop this small talk, Onee-san. Just tell me; will you do it?" There was a short silence.

"Well, if it's you..." She sighed, a sound like the wind through cherry blossoms. "Of course I'd do it for my cute little brother!" She beamed, trailing a hand across my cheek, making her kimono sleeve slide over my shoulder.

"Onee-san, thank you!" I scrambled to my feet, before she pushed my head back down. "But it comes with a price, like always."

"What is it this time?"

"I get to see Rima. Again."

* * *

**A/N: ****Oh... fuck, I've ended up making another story where Mary-Sue!Rima is worshipped by everybody. Crapbricks. Uhhhh, well, just bear with me plz?**

**Yes, I have done something totally cliché and pulled in a character that's usually real in AU fics. You know exactly who she is. And no, she's not evil in this fanfiction. She just has a bit of a teasing streak for her little brother. **


	4. 花

**A/N: UPDATE MONSTER UPDATES!! RAAAARRRRR!!!**

**Hey, kiddies: don't judge Kimi because she's bringing back teh loony**** filler girl. *pleads* **

Chapter Four

花

*

"I'll be... waiting... uhhhnnn." I rolled over, burying my face into the blindingly white pillow, which was warm from the sunlight.

"Nagi, close the blinds." I mumbled sleepily.

I waited a couple minutes for him to comply, but when there was no reply I cracked one demon eye open. Had he left for rowing already? Without waking me up? I felt the unfamiliar feeling of hurt sweep through me before sitting up in bed. Somebody had pulled my duvet over me before they had left and taken off my sweater. Somebody had _undressed me? _While I was _asleep? _The thought was unsettling.

My eye swept over Nagihiko's made bed and closet door that was ajar, just next to the clock that was blinking _9:29_—

It was nine-thirty?! In the morning?! Class had started an hour ago—Oh god, I had never been this late, _ever_...

Somebody knocked at the door, and I quickly flung it open. "Sensei, don't arrest me, I'm too beautiful to di—Amu?"

"Rima?" Amu goggled at me, with Yaya gnawing determinedly on a cookie beside her. "Why are you in uniform?" she continued. (I had fallen asleep in it.) "It's Saturday, remember?"

"It's... oh... the weekend." I said weakly. "I guess I forgot."

"I was going to go ask if you and Nade-chan wanted to go into town today," Amu shouldered her bag. "A couple others are coming too, like Yamamoto-san and Manami and... but Nadeshiko's not here." Amu looked upset. "Where did she go?"

"How should I know where h-she gets off to every day?" I shut the door behind them as they both carefully took off their shoes at the door. "Maybe she's out flirting with girls again." _Such a good example, Ms. Shikorin the Prefect!_

Amu, however, was not listening to me. As usual. She was staring at the wardrobe.

"Amu?" Yaya took her beloved cookie out of her mouth and stared at her.

"Rima, do you or Nadeshiko keep anything in the wardrobe?"

"Of course, she keeps all her clothes in there." I blinked at her.

"E-Eh? ... But it's empty."

My blood ran cold, and I felt the floor lurch. Amu opened the door, revealing that the whole thing was cleaned out.

Yaya jumped to her feet, pulling a cookie-cutter out of nowhere. "Nadeshiko-chan has been kidnapped! They've even pawned off her clothes, too!"

"But, why would the burglars want her clothes?" Amu shivered. "Kidnappers are scary!"

"They're designer, of course." Yaya put a forefinger and thumb over her chin, pretending to think. "Clearly, we are working with a kidnapper who knows a lot about – "

"Don't be ridiculous!" I barked. "Nagihiko walked out last night. He probably just stayed the night in another dormitory."

Silence.

"... Rima, who's Nagihiko?"

Brilliant. I felt like hitting myself because of my pure idiocy. In my rush of horror, I had completely forgotten about using the words _she _and _Nadeshiko _in the presence of my friends.

"Huh? What are you guys talking about? I have never heard of a Nagihiko in my whole life." I am a very skilled liar. All I had to do was pretend that I had no idea what they were talking about and act like they were clearly bonkers. "Never mind that, we need to make sure _Nadeshiko's _safe." As I ran into the bathroom to change, Amu and Yaya exchanged a worried glance. They both nodded and waited at the stairs. As Yaya launched herself off the banister, her whoops and yells echoed through the stairwell while Amu and I walked at a more dignified pace.

"Breakfast still on?" I asked Amu brightly. She shot me a hurt look, as if I should be worrying more about her Nade-Nade. "I think so."

"Great!" I ran ahead to snatch a croissant from the food table, leaving Amu to hurry down the remaining stairs after me. "Riiiiimaaaaa! Go ask Lulu-chan or Yamabuki if she's seen Nadeshiko while we're there!"

"Hinamori Amu!" A voice shouted accusingly. The latter pin curled fangirl herself was framed in the doorway, glaring at my pink-haired friend with maniacal fire in her eyes. "So you've finally decided to submit and ask my advice on –"

"– put a sock in it, Yamabuki." ("Y-Yes, de Morcef-sama!" she sputtered. She's the only one who actually uses her Frenchy name). The bright, almost unnaturally coloured blonde-haired person pushed her out of the way and regarded Amu with an almost critical narrow blue eye. "What did you want to ask, Hinamori-san?"

"W-well, we wanted to know if you've seen Nadeshiko lately," Amu said politely. She suddenly turned and said, "Because Rima's practically driving herself mental with wo-mmff!" The 'mmff' being the part where I put a hand over her mouth.

I _WAS NOT _driving myself mental with worry. I was mildly interested as to his whereabouts, is all.

"_Iincho_?" She put her hands on her hips and stared up at the ceiling. "Well... I can't say I've seen her today. The last time I saw her was last night... running out of the school. With a suitcase."

At risk of sounding like a Disney movie, sometimes dreams really do come true! As do mine. Because Nagihiko has quite obviously run away from Aleydis!

Perhaps that attempted-manipulation into kissing me was simply his warped way of saying goodbye. On the other hand, maybe it was a subtle way to confess his undying love for me, and that someday when I'm two feet higher he'll come back on a white horse with his fortune and beg me to become his loving and beautiful wi---

... UM. YOU CAN JUST IGNORE THAT.

Meanwhile, when I was zoned out, Lulu and Amu had proceeded to have a conversation about the bloody amazing Shikorin.

"—and she's so pretty!" Amu was saying, her cheeks bright pink. "Her hair's so long! And her eyes – so determined and focused – like they're staring right into your..."

"... Soul, I know," Lulu finished dreamily. "And her legs are so long, no wonder she's so good at running! They're so white and slender, like..."

"... Like... they belong on a princess," Saaya sighed.

"And her smile could scare off a flock of axe-murderers!" Yaya volunteered, but the Nadeshiko Fan Club was too busy sighing in blissful ignorance.

"Come on, Yaya." I started pulling her hand. "We'll leave these idiots behind."

"Ehhh? Why?" Yaya made a sad face but I kept walking. "We'll go find Utau. Or something," I said, as an attempt to cheer her up.

"Utau-nee?" Yaya beamed. She loved Utau to the point of worshipping her. Sometimes I worry about that girl. "Yes, let's go see her!"

"She's out on a date, though!" Amu called after us. I stopped mid-step. "With who?"

"Mr. Boyfriend-number-thirty-seven, naturall-" Amu cut off in shock as Utau herself came flouncing through the door. "Hi, guys!" she greeted us, beaming like a ray of sunshine and eating... _an apple_.

_An apple. _

_A FUCKING APPLE!!! _

"'_Hi guys_?'" Yaya echoed. I shook my head. "What have you done with the real Hoshina?" I demanded.

Amu jumped to her defence. "Well-err-Rima, maybe she's just in a..."

She trailed off, throwing us an 'I'm out of ideas' face.

Utau blinked, violet eyes filled to the brim with unnatural innocence that quickly turned into glee. "You guys are SOOO~ KYUTE~!" she said, ruffling the hair of Yaya and me. "Funny, too."

"... Did something... _happen_, Utau?" Amu said, twitching on the _happen_.

"Why do you ask? I just went out on a date with Kukai-kunnnn." She swished her hair side-to-side and gave us all another sickening smile. "He's so athletic, and outdoorsy, and he's so happy all the time it just makes me..."

"... and Nadeshiko-sama's soooo responsible and pretty and she's so nice to everybody..." Saaya kept talking about 'Nadeshiko'.

"... Candy is so beautiful; it's so packed with sugar and chemicals!" Yaya was saying.

This is it.

THIS. IS IT.

I can't stand all this... this... love! This sickening fangirlism. Am I seriously the only cynic in this group? Really? Maybe I'm just a grumpy person. A grumpy, androphobic platonic person.

I grouchily put on my jacket, which I had thought to take with me, and hurried out the door that led into the foyer. The silence was met with appreciative ears; the only sound I could hear was my feet hitting the wooden floors and the occasional breath. I had to spend a few minutes pushing on the oak doors that led outside, but a couple kicks managed to shift it.

Our school's outdoor campus is highly underappreciated by nearly everyone; it was deserted. I shed my coat the minute I got outside; the sun was shining as brightly as it had in August. I felt the corners of my mouth lift up in a tiny smile.

Okay. Maybe I wasn't so stoic and grumpy. After all, I had just a stupid hobby as the rest of them – _flowers_.

We had never been able to keep many plants in the apartment I shared with my mother; the best I had been able to do was hang a box outside my window and pray for sun. When I walked through Aleydis for the first time, the plant overload had almost hurt my eyes. After that... I guess I developed a liking for them. They were pretty, silent, and they were smart. Most of them have defence mechanisms you wouldn't expect, and have devised ways to stay out of the mouth of predators.

Amu just laughed when she heard about it, and then went into warm-and-fuzzy-pep-talk mode. "Oh, Rima, you're like a flower yourself then – you're pretty, you're silent for the better part of the day" (Does she even _hear _me when I yell?) "And you have, uhm... one of those defence-mechanism thingies."

Utau had just stared.

Yaya had just laughed.

In other words, they didn't quite get it. I guess it was somewhat weird, in a way; the Ice Queen made flowers frigid in her presence so why I bothered at all was mysterious?

I crouched down on the path, staring with mild interest at the now-dead hydrangeas on the path. No doubt they'd be back next year; sometime in June or July... it seemed so far away now. Might as well start counting down the days until winter break...

It was October now. November, December. Two months. Thirty and thirty-one was... sixty-one. Plus the remaining days in October. Twenty-three. Sixty-one plus twenty-three is...

Eighty-four more days of first semester.

I rolled onto the warm grass, staring up at the fluffy clouds. Nagihiko couldn't have run away. He'd be back soon.

Soon.

He'd come crawling back like a slimy little insect, soon.

Eighty-three more days of first semester.

"_What the hell's happened?" she shouts harshly, face screwed up. "You've turned into such a – bitch – and I can't take this crap anymore..." _

_The girl she's shouting at lolls carelessly against the wall, smiling in amusement at the other girl's anger. "Really? What's happened to you? You've turned into this stoic little horror, you never tell me anything anymore." Her eyes darkened. "I thought we were best friends." _

"_We were," the other girl spat. "Not anymore." _

"_Is that so?" _

"_It's more than _so_, it's already done," she snarled. She makes to walk out of the room, but before she can turn around the taller girl slaps her, face contorted in anger. The blond girl lets out a tiny yelp and stares at her. "You- you hit me." _

"_That's not all I'm going to do," she whispered maniacally, breathing hard. They were nose-to-nose, and their foreheads touched with a kind of frightening intimacy. "You're going to be sorry you eve-" _

A creak resounded throughout the room, and I sat up in bed, letting out a cry. Touching a hand to my face, I realized that there were tears smeared across my cheeks and I hastily wiped my eyes. "Wh-who is that?"

"Back."

"Huh?"

"I'm back." The voice was low with an edge of crankiness, as if he'd been locked in a room full of electric violins for the past two days or something.

"Who is this?" I mumbled, feeling around for the light.

"It's the Easter Bunny," Nagihiko says sarcastically, turning on the light switch by the door. "Surprise."

"N-Nade-hiko... you..." I raised my eyes to his face and he grinned like a Cheshire cat. "You... ASSHOLE!" shouted, running for him, but he quickly stepped out of the way so that I smacked into a wall. "O-Owwww," I whined.

"Your fault," he said dismissively, shrugging his coat off and lowering his eyelids scornfully.

"It hurts!"

"Like my face, if you had impaled me as planned?"

I muttered something dark about stupid cross-dressers before whirling on him. "You can't just walk out in the middle of break and try and run away! And come back in the _middle of the night!_"

"From what, you?" he started brushing his hair, which had several leaves entangled in it. "and I wasn't running away. Not like it's any of your business, but I was... taking a field trip, if you will."

"Field trip or not, you can't expect to just saunter in here after driving your roommate made with worry."

"Oh, so the heartless little unpleasantry was worrying about me, was she?" I felt the ghost of his breath on the back of my neck, and I aimed a random kick and felt it connect with one of his legs. "No."

"If you say so. Go back to sleep." I heard his footsteps fade behind me and the lock of the bathroom door click.

As I fell back on my bed reluctantly, I felt afraid to shut my eyes again. The dream was familiar – relieving my past must have been some kind of stress outlet – but the ending frightened me. _She _had never been that physically close in my memories, and she had not had that maniacal glint in her eye. Perhaps it represented her true nature. I shut my eyes, trying to breathe evenly as I heard a soft _flump _as my malevolent roommate went to bed. If I had listened a little harder, I might have heard the absence of the regular evened breaths from the other bed. But, as it was, I turned my face into my pillow and sobbed.

* * *

**A/N: LOL I am just so awesome with my hormonal teenage angst. **

**DDDD: Don't cry, Rima-chan! You're getting the readers confused!**

**... Don't shoot me, but this is just foreshadowing of lots of dark stuff. ****Yes, there's going to be angst, melodramaticisy *makes up word*, and even blood... Blood?! I'm sorry, did I say blood?! Uuhhh... I meant... ketchup. **

**Yes, ketchup. **


	5. 双

**A/N: Hey, kiddies: When people start having night terrors, you should probably wake them up instead of sitting there like a potato. 8'DD**

Chapter Five

双子

I woke up suddenly, panting heavily. The room was bathed in white from the full moon outside, and all I could hear was the clock ticking and the rustling of sheets.

... I wasn't moving, though. Was Nagihiko awake? I wasn't feeling tired in the least, and trying to speculate about what had woken me up.

"_NO_!"

I made a noise of surprise in my throat, reflexively scrunching up into a ball. Nagihiko's eyes were wide open in the bed next to mine, but they were unfocused and glassed over. Slowly, he seemed to fall asleep again.

"What are you doing... put that down." _Sleeptalking?_ "No! Don't! I... what are you doing? Mother!"

My breath caught in my throat.

"Blood... why?... FATHER!" he screamed, thrashing around. "Don't leave me! Don't... run... too much blood." He was mumbling softly now, but still shaking. I backed up against the wall, unable to stop looking like in some kind of twisted horror movie.

"... _Onee-chan_... they're... gone." His breathing slowly evened again, and it was silent for the rest of the night.

*

On Monday morning, I woke up feeling as if my eyes were on fire from crying last night. That was nothing, however, to having to force them open and see Nagihiko staring me with what looked like some kind of pained expression.

Blue and green lights were dancing on my comforter, shining in from the window outside where it was raining. A chickadee chirped annoyingly on a branch as rain dripped off the end of the roof, making a tinny noise. "Fujisaki?" I mumbled, feeling around for the clock to bring up to my face. It said 7:45. "No rowing today?"

"D-Ditched," he said, turning away from me.

"Are you alright?" I abruptly asked, and wanted to hit myself. My suspicions were confirmed when he sent me a look of death. "Fine."

"I—" He kept glaring at me with such ferocity that I felt like he was trying to burn me with his eyes. "Aren't you going to get up?"

"In a minute!" I snapped. "Are you worried about the health exam or something?"

He turned around, so that I couldn't see his face, but I could see his back stiffen. "That's not it."

"Fine then," I sulked, swinging out of bed. "I can see we're off to a fucking. Good. Day."

"Positively stunning," he replied sardonically, slamming the door behind him. _Stupid men and their delicate bloody feelings_, I found myself thinking nastily. Last night, I had gotten a succession of various Nagihiko-centric dreams that left me in a foul mood. The first being from that time so long ago, second about him dying from an overdose of hamburgers, third being about him actually being a girl, and lastly, one about him getting married.

I was so busy musing that I didn't notice time going by until it was eight o'clock. I gave a yelp of horror and got ready for school in a hurry, heading towards the school at a run. Did I mention how terrible a runner I am? Well, I suck. And how I almost crashed into several walls? Well, I did.

"I-I'm here," I gasped, as I ran through the doorway of my classroom. Sanjo-sensei regarded me with an icy glare, glasses reflecting light so that I couldn't see her eyes. "Mashiro, late."

"I-I know," I said meekly.

"Well," She clapped her hands loudly at the class. "Single file. Walk to your doom, ladies."

There were various sounds of protest.

"Don't whine," Sanjou ordered, glasses flashing menacingly. "Single-file!"

"Nein, Führer," I muttered, and I suddenly felt a looming presence behind me. "Care to repeat that, Mashiro?"

"She was kidding, sensei!" Amu said frantically. She was looking around anxiously. "Has anyone seen Nadeshiko?"

I just snorted in reply, and Yaya shook her head.

"Eeeeh? But..." Amu pointed to where the other class was filing out. "She should be there, shouldn't she?"

"Tch." I made a noncommittal noise that ended up coming like a cat sneeze.

"What's with you today?" Amu turned around, face matching her hair color. "You're being all... quiet... usually you'd be verbally abusing her to no end."

I decided to stay silent, and Amu reluctantly dropped it as we all started lining up near the nurses' office. "Grade six, classes one and two," a nurse called. "Kurata, Sakura, Kagurazaka, Koyama."

Four girls from the grade six classes stood up and filed through the open door. The door quietly slid shut behind them. And so began the wait. Suddenly, a door at the other end of the hallway opened and Nagihiko slipped out.

"Fujisaki-saaann!" A person with orangey-brown flyaway hair suddenly ran up to him. "Where have you been?! You ran out right after attendance!"

"Eeeeh?" He gave what was presumably the famous Nikaidou-sensei a vapid smile. "I was getting food."

"Can you tell me next time?" he sputtered.

"Of course! I'm so sorry." He bowed – No, I'm not kidding; he actually showed a sign of RESPECT and LOWERED his HEAD, dark hair swishing over his shoulder.

Something was definitely wrong. Nikaidou seemed to agree with me, because he looked very taken aback. "No, that's alright, Fujisaki-san. We were just worried. I mean, you're _iinch__ō_and everything, you have responsibilities to your class, you know...?" he rambled. Moreover, Nagihiko smiled attentively. The whole time.

I was about to go up to him – and, you know, demand what the HELL was up with the new psycho attitude of his, but I didn't get a chance because suddenly I was hugged.

By NAGIHIKO.

NAGIHIKO was HUGGING me, I could FEEL him ON me, and I THINK I wasn't able to BREATHE very well.

"Rima-chan!" he giggled. "How are you?"

"Um," I stared at him, bewildered. Was this even the same person? "I'm... fine." There was something... odd... about how he had felt when he had hugged me, and I was thinking so hard I could barely form a coherent sentence.

"Are you sure?" Of course I'm sure, shit-for-brains. "How about you, Amu?" Vapid smile. Nagihiko's smile was _never _vapid. I heard her say, "Oh, fine!" as if nothing had happened and start to chatter.

This could only mean one thing. He had clearly had an encounter with aliens that had implanted a chip in his brain as some part of a weird, extraterrestrial experiment.

Poor Nagihiko.

Actually, no, I take that back. He brought this upon himself! Karma! Karma! Yes! Let _himself _deal with the Health Exam. Not my problem!

I was pretty sure I was starting to sound very quite mad in my head when the same nurse returned. "Grade nine, classes one and two. Yamamoto, Yamabuki, Yuiki, Mashiro, Fujisaki."

I froze. Yaya whined. Saaya and Lulu gestured to us frantically.

Nagihiko smiled.

He FUCKING SMILED.

As we approached the door, I did a very stupid thing and leaned forward. "Nagihiko, how are you going to get out of this?"

"Hmm?" he looked at me, genuinely confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean – you're a guy – how are they..."

"Oh, that?" he gave a tinkling Nadeshiko-laugh. "Don't worry about it, Macchan," _(MACCHAN?!_) "I'll be perfectly fine." At my disbelieving look, his eyes suddenly widened and he said, "Look, there's something I better tell yo – "

"Fujisaki Nadeshiko – class 9-B?" a nurse called. "The doctor's ready for you."

"A-Ah. Coming," he gave me a smile. "Just... don't worry about it, okay?"

_DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, OKAY?! _How the hell could I NOT worry about this? He was going in there for everyone to find out his secret!

_Maybe he intended for that all along. _

_Maybe he wants to run away_.

No, I told myself automatically, don't think that.

_It can't be easy_.

The soft voice whispering these utterances was pissing me off.

_It can't be easy, being a girl. If they find out, he's expelled. Gone. He can go to school as a regular boy._

Yes, but he can't, his grandmother made it perfectly clear.

_Really? Really? Really? Really? Reall—_

"Shut up!"

"Rima-tan?" Yaya gawked at me. "Who are you talking to?" I froze. "Nobody!" I made like I was talking to Lulu, and Yaya turned away again reluctantly.

"Mashiro-san? The doctor's ready for you – "

"Thank you!" I ran past the nurse, past various tiny makeshift rooms made out of sheets and tarps that served as exam rooms. I stopped when I heard a familiar voice laugh.

"Hmmm. Lost some weight, here." This was presumably a doctor.

"Really?" the high-pitched voice laughed. "That's so good! I've really been watching what I eat this year."

_No, he hasn't. He's been pigging out on food! _I shook my head, and stopped when I heard another voice speak again. "And you grew another cup size, as well. Have you been getting your regular menstruation cycl—"

I ran away from the room, heart pounding. Nagihiko didn't have a cup size. Nagihiko didn't have a freaking menstrual cycle. Who was this? It couldn't be Nagihiko, couldn't be _my _Nagihiko, but she looked exactly the same.

Only, their hugs were different.

Why were their hugs different? Nagihiko hadn't hugged me, but I _did _fall on him, which was almost the same thing. They had almost definitely felt dissimilar, I was sure of it. They had been wearing uniforms both times... so why...

"Mashiro-san?" A woman in a lab coat stuck her head out from the next compartment over from Nadeshiko's. "Your health exam."

"Oh, sorry," I mumbled distractedly, running in and still lost in thought.

"Can you sit here, please?"

I sat down on a bench. Nagihiko's most recent hug had been... softer.

Softer?

How was that possible?

"Can you say _aaaahhhh _for me?"

"Aaaahhhh." Where our chests touched... it had felt much... squishier.

That was impossible unless he had boobs or something.

"Your tonsils... they're looking a little swelled. Might want to let your dentist know next time you have a checkup. Other than that, you're fine. Can you take off your shirt, please?"

But seriously, the more I thought about it, the more I could definitely FEEL them. I dreamily started unbuttoning my uniform shirt. Actually, I thought grumpily, why did she have to boob-squish me, anyway? Utau used to do that all the time, just to annoy me and emphasize that I was the perfect height to suffocate into them. It was kind of awkward. Not to mention irritating.

I still felt like there was something missing, though...

... Oh, yeah.

NAGIHIKO DIDN'T HAVE ANY FEMALE ANATOMY WHATSOEVER. My mind raced frantically as the doctor wound a measuring tape around my chest, humming a strange song that sounded like the Ievvan Polka. "Mashiro-san, are you drinking enough milk?"

I stopped my train of thought abruptly. "I dunno. Why?"

"Well..." she stood back and looked thoughtful. "You're a little behind your classmates in terms of female development – "

"WHAAAA— never mind!" I said hastily, standing up and pulling on my shirt again. "C-Can I go now?"

The doctor nodded, looking somewhat afraid as I bolted out of the room so fast that the sheets fluttered. Looking around frantically, I saw the weird Nagihiko impostor walking down the makeshift hallway.

"You!" I shouted, and caught up to him – or, I guess it'd be her. Grabbing her by the collar, I saw her turn around, and give me a confused look. "Rima?"

"You're. Coming. With. Me." I dragged her into the nearest empty room, fuming, and turned around once I had made sure the curtain that served as a door was shut. "Who the hell are you?"

"Who the hell are _you_?" she replied, giving me a withering look. "I'm Nagihiko Fujisaki, remember?"

"Don't give me that crap," I said coldly, glaring. "You're not Nagihiko. Nagihiko is a boy, and you're definitely a girl. You're evidently some weird, female stand-in. What did you do with him? Are you part of the yakuza? Is he in debt? Or are you part of the Russia Mo-"

"There you are, Nagi – ah. Are you in the middle of something?" A second identical voice chorused in, cutting off mine, and I turned around slowly. Was I going crazy? Hallucinating? I must be, if I was seeing a second clone of Nadeshiko that had walked in. The only difference was that his – her – _its _expression was looking much more innocently puzzled then Nadeshiko Number One's, which was looking malevolent.

The second Nadeshiko summed it up in two words. "Oh, dear. You'd better explain this, Nagi."

The first Nadeshiko twitched as she said, "No, thanks."

"Fine." The second Nadeshiko tossed her ponytail and smiled. "I'm Fujisaki Nadeshiko."

Silence.

"Nooooo," I said slowly, like I was talking to a mentally handicapped person. "You're... not. Nadeshiko doesn't _exist_."

She shook her head, still smiling madly. "It's true that Nagi-kun" she gestured to the first Nadeshiko on the wall. "Took up my identity for the sake of staying at this school. But, no; I'm the real Nadeshiko. Nagihiko's my little brother."

"I'm not your _little brother_," the first Nadeshiko muttered. "She's my... twin."

"I'm right here," the second Nadeshiko tilted her head menacingly on its side. "But anyway, Rima-chan."

"Prove it," I said, still glaring at the first Nadeshiko. Immediately, her hands leapt towards the top of her skirt and the second Nadeshiko slapped her. "Not that way!"

"It would be way less trouble, that's for sure!" she cried, shoving her twin back. Turning her attention back to me, she pinned me against the one solid wall roughly until our foreheads were touching. "Rima Mashiro," she said quietly. "Your cat eats remote controls, you're an A-cup , you got fifty-three percent in math last term."

"Anybody could know that!" I squeaked.

He pushed his face closer, and I tried to shrink back against the wall. Closing his eyes, he murmured, "You hate me because I fell for Amu."

I froze, and Nadeshiko sucked in a breath sharply. "Amu-chan?!"

"You knew her?" I stammered. She nodded, closing her eyes. "I attended Aleydis from kindergarten to grade three. When my parents died, I was put into the care of our extended family at Kyoto, to be raised as the heir to the Fujisaki clan."

"But I don't remember you being in any of my classes!" I protested.

"I was," her eyes glimmered at me. "Your second-grade homeroom. Nagihiko took my place the September after our parent's death, when he was put into _Obaa-sama'_s care, and started posing as me."

It was Nadeshiko.

Nadeshiko had been like my sister, and Nagihiko was the one that had betrayed me.

Nagihiko took a step back, tilting his head at a frightening angle. "She really can't overcome grudges, that one."

Nadeshiko shook her head, ignoring him. "I'm sorry, Rima-chan. I wasn't allowed to tell you."

I nodded my head numbly, letting my head fall forward so that my bangs obscured my eyes. "That's why she changed, huh?" I said quietly. Nagihiko twitched, but showed no other sign of acknowledging anything.

I lifted my head up. "Can I go now?"

Nadeshiko nodded, standing back, but Nagihiko didn't move an inch. I walked out like a zombie, and came across Yaya in the front room. "Rima-chan, I haven't grown an inch—are you crying?"

I shook my head.

"What's wrong? Tell Yaya!"

"It's nothing, really," I took a deep breath. "Have you seen Utau?"

Yaya nodded. "She finished her health exam, I think she's out on the roof."

"Thanks." I took off at a run. I'd feel horrible to burden Amu and Yaya with this kind of thing, Yaya being so carefree and Amu being the completely worst person to confide in during this kind of situation.

I stopped on the third stairwell, panting furiously. I hated being terrible at running. After a couple of minutes, I managed to catch my breath and reached the door to the roof. I could have cried with relief when I saw two flaxen bunches of hair bobbing in the wind. She didn't notice until I came right up to her. "U-Utau?"

"Hey, Mashiro," she greeted me. She looked peaceful, which was strange. Most of the time, her eyebrows had a furrow in them and her eyes had a determined glint. Today, her forehead was smoothed over and her eyelids were partially shut. "Something wrong?"

"Not really," I mumbled. "How about you?"

She turned around and studied me, like she was sizing me up. "Mashiro, have you ever been in love?"

I almost fell off the railing. "I... I don't think so."

"Don't be so naïve. It doesn't have to be that way. You love your mom and dad, right? And Amu and Yaya?"

"I guess."

"But then again," Utau turned her head back to the mountains in the distance, and I was reminded of several American movies. "I guess there's several types of love."

"I suppose."

"Like, there's the kind of love between families. And there's the kind for your friends. And then, there's even the kind of love that you have for people you hate."

"That reminds me of a good quote I saw once... '_Hate is a special kind of love you give to people who suck_' – "

"Don't interrupt me. And there's the kind of love that ends quickly. I think that would be... ephemeral love. And platonic love." She turned and stared through my head. "And then there's weird kinds of love."

"Weird?"

"Yeah. The kind you get into and don't know how to get out of."

I was surprised to realize that I knew exactly what she was talking about. Before I knew what I was doing, I let out a sob and flung my arms around her waist (which was the highest point I could reach) and cried.

"H-Hey!" she suddenly said, staring down. "What's wrong, shrimp? You're going to get my shirt dirty..." she put a hand hesitantly on my head. "You've been having a tough time, huh?"

I nodded. She started patting my head, as if unsure how. "Has Fujisaki been giving you a hard time?"

"... Not the kind of hard time you think."

"I see." She said it, even though I knew she didn't see at all. "Do you need somewhere to sleep?"

I nodded again, and she stopped petting my head. "My roommate's on that class trip to Seoul. If you want, you can stay with me." I heard her voice becoming flustered. "Y-You know, only if you want to."

After a minute of silence, I said thickly, "Can I?"

"D-Didn't I just say that?!" her face was flushed heavily, and she was staring in the opposite direction. "Geez, you're so hard to read sometimes." She quickly shoved me off her. "Look what you've done! Now I have to dry-clean this thing."

"Whoop-dee-doo." I tried to roll my eyes.

"Oii! Hoshina?" Lulu stood in the doorway, hand on her hip. "There's a letter for you downstairs." The second blond girl looked at my red eyes in puzzlement, but didn't comment.

"R-REALLY?!" to my utter amazement, Utau suddenly straightened up as linear as a poker. "D'you know where it's from?"

"Kawasaki, looks like."

"Rima!" she suddenly took my hand and bolted for the door, almost knocking Lulu down. As she ran down the stairs two-at-a-time, she hissed, "Run _faster_, dammit!"

"Why should I?!" I demanded grumpily.

"Because - that letter's from Onii-chan!"

**********

**A/N: Thank you so much for the feedback I've been getting on this story! Makes me glad. I love being able to use poetic description and it not sound strange. I've been bottling up all those lovely similes, too~ **

**And, everybody, sorry for the angst. It was kinda corny, wasn't it? That's what else I've been keeping bottled up during Rima Can't Spell. Large amounts of corn. *groans* **

**More Random Trivia: **

**- Our story takes place just outside ****Kamikawa, Hyōgo****, a small town that's part of the Kanzaki District. It's a positively tiny little village of only about 8,000 people, but it's really beautiful with lots of highlands (It looks like it jumped right out of a Clannad episode! Wheat fields! Flowers!). I am such a dork that I actually pinpointed a place. But you luffs me anyway. **

**- ... Sousei no Aquarion was playing in my head for a good fraction of this chapter 8'D I find that finding a song that can match the mood of the story helps my writing skills. It was basically Megumeru, Sousei no Aquarion, and Sajou no Yume for ALL the scenery description. **

**- It's fun finding songs to play while typing Nadeshiko – it's usually Tsugai Kogarashi and Tori no Uta. 24/7. It gets annoying. **

**- Are you still reading this? Seriously? Well then, I might as well tell you the songs I use for Rima and Nagi. Rima: True My Heart, Suki? Kirai? Suki! (This one's the result of Rimahiko AMV brainwashing), Pure Parade, and for serious scenes it's Nemureru Shiro and Narcisse Noir. For Nagi: Hana Tegami (-brick'd-), Namidaboshi, Boukoku Kakusei Catharsis, and basically every single emo Ayane song you can think of. I think this is why he's so rude, nasty, and insists upon an angsty past? Iunno. **

**- I just realized that two of those Rima songs were Rie Kugimiya. I think I've said this before, but if I had to choose a seiyuu to voice the Rima in my stories, I think it'd be her. For some reason, I can't resist making a noisy Rima that yells at people. Bleh. **

**- Who would Nagihiko be? SHUT UP, BRAIN. I SAID, BRAIN, SHUT UP! I quite seriously think of Megumi Ogata. To voice both twins, actually. She's really talented, and I love her when she voices males (*cough cough*ex-Yukito fangirl*cough cough*). **

**- Ikuto = Jun Fukuyama. Hands down. Seriously, no argument about this one. **

**- ... Anybody else got ideas? Who would you want if you had to get new voice actors to voice the characters? I'm kinda stuck on Amu. I mean, I don't really like Kanae Ito as her voice, I want somebody new, but I really don't want to fill up this trivia space even mor-- **

**That was completely pointless, but I feel the urge to fill up this space, a lot. IT'S THE WRITER'S INSTINCT!! BLANK PAGES MAKE MEH ANGRII! **

**Srsly, I need to shut up now. **


	6. 家

**A/N: Okay, this is getting ridiculous. **

Chapter Six

家

Utau stood in front of the letter room, fumbling with the envelope breathlessly. Her hands were shaking so much that she was having difficulty opening it, so finally Lulu took pity on her and ripped open the envelope. "There."

The blond girl scanned the letter quickly, and when she reached the end she let out a little squeal.

Lulu rolled her eyes. "Oh, no." Utau started dancing around the hallway, doing what looked a bit like a jig. "Obviously, Mr. Grumpy's going to be paying us a visit."

"Who?"

"Her brother." Lulu passed me the letter.

_Dear Hoshina-san,_

_I hope you have been in good health. Here, the autumn leaves have started falling off the trees and it has been raining a great deal as we get closer to winter. I hope you are taking care of yourself and not inhaling those horrible rolls of paper you seem to fond of smoking. _

_Quite recently it has come to my attention that you are now sixteen; I do wonder why nobody reminded me of your birthday, as I am sure that they most definitely did not intend for me to remember it myself. May I offer you congratulations on becoming that much closer to your transformation into a grumpy old lady. _

_I was talking to Mother the other day; in case you were wondering, she is still with that old man. Before I could even open my mouth, she broke down and began to ramble about how she has not seen her 'little Utan' since June and wonders how you are faring. I assured her that you were in as perfect health as you could be with blackened lungs but for some odd reason this did not appear to help whatsoever; the only way to console her was to promise her that I would come and visit you soon. It is with great regret that I inform you of my visiting on the third day of the long month*. Please refrain from glomping me this time. _

_Sincerely,_

_月詠 イクト_

_Tsukiyomi Ikuto._

Whoever it was had used a thin brush for already slanting letters. They weren't bad at calligraphy, to be honest. But why was Utau getting so excited over this guy? He was addressing her quite formally and he sounded like he enjoyed going all passive-aggressive on the ends of paragraphs.

Well, whatever. Hopefully he wouldn't come to the school at all. I folded the letter back up into its envelope and handed it to the now-still Utau. "That's nice."

"I know, right?!" she hugged the letter to her chest. "I can't wait!"

I suddenly remembered the last name. _Tsukiyomi_? "Hey, Utau, why are your family names different?"

"Hmmm?" Utau looked up from where she had been rereading the letter. "I took my mother's maiden name when she divorced our father."

"Your parents are divorced?" I spluttered.

"Yeah," she went back to the paper. "He ran away to Europe when things got complicated."

I wanted to ask her what she meant by _complicated_, but she was already skipping off. Lulu quickly followed in pursuit so that I was left standing in the middle of the hallway like an idiot.

"Hey!" a voice suddenly called out. I turned around and came face-to-face with Nagihiko. "Fuck off."

"What?" He stared at me, hurt. "Why?"

Right – it was Nadeshiko. I needed to start looking at the way they talked, not their faces. "I-I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else."

She smiled at me sympathetically. "I know." When I didn't reply, she ploughed on. "A lot of people can't really tell us apart, so don't feel bad if you get us mixed up."

"Is it really prudent for the both of you to be running around the school at the same time?" I grunted.

"Eeehh? Nobody will notice!" she gave a tinkling laugh.

Yeah, nobody's going to notice. Except the school nurse, who's going to think that you have Bipolar Disorder.

"Well, you seem alright now, but you looked pretty upset back there. Are you sure you're alright?" she touched my arm, making a perfect crescent-moon frown.

"Yeah, fine," I alleged in monosyllables.

She did that creepy head-tilt thing again. "Are you sure? You know..." she took a deep breath. "We were really close a long time ago, you know? So if you'd like to catch up, I'd be glad to." She gave me a strained smile.

"Um, yeah. Okay. Whatever."

"Really?" her eyes lit up. "Wonderful! How about today after school?"

"I – what?" I took a step back. "Uh, today's not good for me."

"Don't be ridiculous! It'll be fun!" What was wrong with this girl?! Couldn't she take _no_ for an answer?

"No, really, I don't think I can go."

She started rifling in her pockets, which made me curious so I decided to stick around. She triumphantly pulled out several photographs.

"Go ahead," she said smugly. "Take a look." It appeared to be Polaroids of Nagihiko sleeping over a period of about five years. I marveled at the way his sleeping face slimmed down a little more and looked progressively more irritated with every new photo.

"It's _him_. Sleeping." I stated the obvious.

"Precisely," Nadeshiko gave me a coy, devious look. "Just one hour of your time, and you can be the proud owner of all these photos!"

"Thanks, but no thanks," I gave her a bitter smile. "I don't think I want to be the proud owner of moments in time with that demon spawn."

"Come _awwwnn_!" she put Valley Girl emphasis on the last syllable and pulled at my arm.

"I'm not going, and that's final!"

*

"This is your dormitory, huh?" I asked weakly, staring in awe at the room. It looked like a bomb went off. There were several comforters and mattresses on the floor, two digital clocks with a difference of three minutes, and a random stuffed duck all dumped unceremoniously on the floor. Not to mention empty ramen bowls littered _everywhere_.

"Yup!" Utau gestured to one of the mattresses. "Take your pick of beds."

I sighed, taking a seat on one of them, only to realize I had sat on a book of some kind. On closer inspection, it appeared to be a thick binder. I picked it up curiously. "Can I have a look through this?" Utau shrugged, so I opened it to the first page. A small boy with blue-black hair and ivory skin stared back at me from under the shade of a maple tree, holding sheet music in his hand and looking slightly bemused. It was dated vaguely at around June 2000. "Utau, who's this?"

She slipped off her own bed, where she had been Facebooking on her laptop, and peered at the photograph. With a high-pitched giggle, she said, "Oh, that's Ikuto-onii-chan!"

_This _was the frightening boy who wrote that letter? He looked so... sullen. Flipping the page, I came across another picture, dated at July, of three girls running through a poppy field. Seriously? Where do you find poppy fields in an industrial country like Japan?

"Are these... you don't have sisters, do you?" I looked at the label, which went into slightly more detail. _Sh__ō__doshima, August 2001. Utau, Tadase, Souko. _

"Eh?" Utau looked at the label. "That's me, a family friend, and my _mother_."

"But she looks _young_!" I stared at the tallest one, who had long hair and face structure almost identical to her daughter's. "And... that looks like a girl."

"Nuh-uuhh. Short hair."

"Why's he wearing a dress?"

Utau burst out laughing. "Onii-chan had pushed him into the ocean, so his clothes were all wet!" I studied Utau's face, admiring the nostalgic expression. You didn't often get to see Utau like this. "... That was a fun family vacation," she said absent-mindedly, flipping the page. "Oooh – look! It's Ikurin again!"

"It's _who_?"

"See, see, look. It's me and Ikurin!" She pointed excitedly to a picture, dated at 2003, of a blond girl violently tackling her raven-haired brother. He was looking mildly irritated, and was holding a violin out of the reach of the little girl's arms. Was it just me, or did Utau have a brother complex? **(A/N: You have no idea.) **

The next picture was the little Utau with her mouth open and frozen in time as if she was singing, with her brother behind her playing the violin. "Utau?! What's this?"

"Ah." Utau gave it a quick glance. "It's me singing, obviously. We used to do that a lot."

Utau sings? Since when has this been in the norm? "You can sing?"

"Of course. I am very multitalented." She seated herself at her very cluttered vanity and began to brush one of her pigtails, much like a mermaid preening herself on a rock like in the storybooks.

"Can I hear?"

With her eyes still fixated on the mirror, she sung a few bars of a strange song. There weren't any words, but it felt slightly nostalgic.

I stood still for a moment. She had a good voice, strong and clear. "Pretty."

"Mmmm."

I turned back to the photo album, turning the page again to find a smiling blond boy. "This is..."

"Hotori Tadase." He looked like Utau's little brother, but I flipped back to the second photo, remembering what Utau said about him being a family friend. The next picture over showed four adults clustered together, including what looked like Utau's mother, two unfamiliar people I took to be Hotori Tadase's parents, and a man who looked like a much older version of Tsukiyomi Ikuto. "Utau... is this your dad?"

I saw her become rigid. "Yeah. Aruto Tsukiyomi." He had a little smirk on his face, as if he found getting his picture taken a little funny or something. Creepy.

"Didn't he run away... or something?"

"He went missing." The tone of Utau's voice indicated that nosiness was not to be tolerated, so I shut up.

"By the way, aren't you meeting Nadeshiko today?" _How had she known that?_

"No."

"You should leave soon if you want to meet her."

*

"So I'm here," I said dully. "What do you want?"

Nadeshiko smiled widely at me, and took a sip of tea. We were sitting in a strange café down in the village, and I kept checking my watch repeatedly.

"Relax!" she told me. "A relaxed atmosphere is one in which it is easier to tell secrets."

"Secrets?"

"Of course." She gave me an expectant smile. "Come now; spill. Does Rima like somebody?"

I stared at her in bewilderment for a couple seconds, before saying slowly, "No?" Maybe if I acted like she was crazy she'd go away.

"Now, really, _Macchan_. Am I supposed to believe that?"

Why do all the Fujisakis I know insist on giving me screwed-up nicknames?

She continued. "How about my brother? Hmmm? He's really quite good-looking, you know."

I gagged on an almond cookie, which I had been eating at breakneck pace. "_Good-looking?!"_

"You don't think he is?" Nadeshiko looked thoughtful. "I always thought he was pretty hot!" (_WHAAAATTT?!)_ "Because he looks like me, and I'm pretty, right?" She made a silly little pouting face.

_Maybe the Fujisaki twins are more alike than I thought. _

"... Rima?"

I quickly snapped out of my reverie. "What is it?"

She picked at the wood of the table, her playful tone abruptly changing. "Are you angry at Nagihiko-kun?" I didn't reply so she kept going. "I-I... he told me what happened, you know, and I know it must have been strange for Hinamori-san."

"Amu doesn't remember anything," I muttered.

"I guess it was a long time ago."

More silence. Nadeshiko kept picking at the wood, and I kept gnawing on another almond cookie.

"We were in grade five," I said in a low voice. Nadeshiko stopped picking at the wood and looked up. "I... we were still friends. Nagihiko and I. That was the year that Amu had also transferred in, and we were friends. For some reason, Nagihiko didn't like her, but they had never really talked before so I didn't know why."

"He was jealous," Nadeshiko mumbled. I sent her a quizzical look, but she lifted her head up and nodded. "Go on."

"A-And, we got into a fight about it, one day. A big one. It was the first time we had ever been angry with each other, and he turned kind of frightening. And a couple days later, I walked in on him... kissing... her."

I sighed. "I had just thought that it had been some kind of rebellion. Or something."

"You didn't think he actually liked her?" Nadeshiko rested her chin in her hands.

"Of course not! He always said that he liked me best!" My lower lip was quivering, and I sounded like a whiny little kid, but I was too worked up to care.

Nadeshiko dreamily took another drink of tea. "I see."

I stared at her. "Well, now it's your turn."

She gave me a careful glance. "What do you mean?"

I inhaled sharply. "Why you two are living apart, for one."

Nadeshiko distractedly crossed one leg over the other, bangs falling into her eyes. "Did you know that I'm older then Nagihiko by about fifteen minutes?" I nodded, and she brushed hair out of her eyes. "Well, that makes me the elder, right? It also makes me the next head of our family. When and if my parents fail to live long enough to instruct me on Fujisaki protocol appropriate for my position..."

All her big words and complicated sentence structure was hurting my brain. It felt almost as if she was quoting from a storybook.

"... It is the job of the closest living relatives to raise me as appropriate."

I opened my mouth to reply, but with one fleeting look I was silenced.

"Nagihiko and I... we were so close and children. He couldn't go anywhere without me, and I felt it my duty to trail after him and make sure he didn't get into any trouble. Our relatives disapproved of the dependence we had on each other and lack of individuality, and so they convinced our parents to change their will." Her hair was falling back into its old position, veiling her eyes, and the corners of her mouth were dipping dangerously low. "Where I would go into the care of my aunt and uncle in Kyoto, and Nagihiko with our grandmother." Her face was twisting up in anger, and I felt a sudden urge to grab a passing server's tray and use it to deflect invisible radiation.

My throat was dry. I hastily gulped down water, feeling like a dying goldfish. "U-Uh..."

" - And that's our little story!" She beamed at me, invisible little rays of sunshine dancing around her. I shuddered. This girl was terrifying. "Any more questions?"

I slid over one seat. _Be brave, Rima! This is probably going to be your one last chance to get any dirt on Nagihiko! _"W-Well, there is one more."

She blinked expectantly, and I took another deep breath. "Your parents. I don't mean to sound nosy or anything, but how did they die?"

Nadeshiko froze, and stared at me. "That _is _nosy."

"Sorry!" I stood up, flushing, but she gestured for me to sit back down. "No, it's better you hear this from me then him."

"You mean... Nagihiko?" A shadow passed over her face. "Yes. I think mine's going to be a little less... biased."

I waited.

"Our parent's death was a bit of a mystery, to be honest." Dark eyes met mine. "I had been out with friends at a summer festival, but Nagihiko had just recently gotten over a fever so he was staying home. Mother and Father were home, too, and the servants had been dismissed for the day." Her eyes closed as she murmured, "By the time I heard, the facts were: Mother and Father, dead. Stabbed. Not allowed to go into the main house.'"

My blood ran cold.

"Nagihiko witnessed the murder. When our grandmother first found him, he was standing in the corner of the room, covered in their blood and shaking. He just kept saying over and over that they got murdered, but he couldn't name the killer or any other information then that whatsoever," She opened her eyes again. "It's been six years, but he'll still have nightmares. So... don't bring it up too much, okay?"

I nodded slowly, and stood up. "Thank you."

"I hope you remember what I said." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I hope you talk to Nagihiko, soon. I think you're important to him."

"You think wrong, then," I said quietly and walked out.

* * *

**A/N: ***** The frost month refers to the ninth traditional Japanese lunar month of **_**nagatsuki **_**(****長月****), or November. At least, I hope it's November. Argh. It's probably not, the more I think about it... okay, any awesome Asian people know what the third day of November on the Gregorian is on the Lunar? **

**I'm really sorry. Um. I kind of have a hidden thing for murder mystery, and this WILL lead up to major Rimahiko of the Hurt/Comfort variety. Oh, yeah, and I also have an avid interest in things like post-traumatic stress disorder. Seriously, I am the most dorky psychology buff you will ever meet. **

**And I'm so sorry for the lack of Rimahiko – sometimes, sexual tension is much better then outright flirting? 8'DDDD**

**Ikurin shows up next chapter, but he's going to be super-different from his RCS counterpart. Just warning ya. **


	7. 兄

**A/N: Eurgh, Easter Break's over. How gross. At least it's Sushi Day tomorrow in the cafeteria!!**

**(Don't you just love how I talk about my mundane life in A/N's?)**

**Hey, kiddies: Don't just flip through your friend's photo albums. It's fucking creepy. **

Chapter Seven

兄

It was the third night sleeping with Utau, and I was already totally sleep-deprived. It wasn't the fact that I was sleeping in the same room as Utau, who muttered scary things in her sleep – it was, like everything else, Nagihiko's fault.

I had pretended to be indifferent to what Nadeshiko had told me the other day; but the truth was, it bothered me. A lot. I couldn't shake the image of a bloodstained Nagihiko out of my head and what he had said four nights ago –_ "put it down, too much blood"_ – had a meaning that had suddenly doubled in importance.

And then, of course, there were plenty more things to relive – that horrible fiasco from so long ago that I had tried to bury in my memories. I still marveled at how Amu could remember nothing; that _I _could have forgotten so easily the reason why Nagihiko and I had started feuding in the first place.

Although, what really had made me angry back then was because he hadn't told me. I hadn't had a clue that they had talked at all before that incident - just that his eyes would always follow her across the room. Did he still like her, even now? The question kept me up at night more then anything else, tossing and turning in worry. I didn't know why. They couldn't start _going _out or something, right? Amu just liked Nadeshiko as a friend at most.

_But if she found out she was a boy..._

It all led back to the same thing, didn't it? Protect Nagihiko's secret at all costs.

Nagihiko seemed to be utterly bewildered at why I was ignoring him, too; certainly his twin sister must have tipped him off somehow because he didn't make any move to talk to me.

On those nights when thoughts like this drove me mad with worry, I'd take to perusing Utau's extensive collection of photo albums. I was startled to find out that Utau had come from such a good family; even more shocking was the fact that she almost seemed to be an angel in photos like these. At school, she was inclined towards lots of black and other dark coloured clothing and silver accessories; it was elegant, sure, but edgy. In photographs of her childhood, all I saw on her was whites and pinks, violets and blues, bows and frills. It was like she had two sides.

It was through this as well that I began to learn a lot about other members of her family, as well, although it made me feel like a creepy stalker.

There was a great deal of her older brother – Tsukiyomi Ikuto – featured in pictures; he predominated most of her photo books. A small, skinny boy who grew up into quite the dark and sultry teenager, never without his violin or cool indifferent look. I couldn't help but think that he must be a hit with the girls at his school: Couldn't you just see it? "COOL, DARK AND SENSITIVE MUSICIAN." I began to notice that his expression remained unchanging the closer to the present the dates got, but his knuckles would be white as he gripped his violin or his shoulders would be hunched slightly.

Then there was Hotori Tadase, the blond boy who Tsukiyomi seemed never without; he was always there grabbing onto his leg or hanging off his arms in most pictures, accompanied by a furious-looking Utau who was usually trying to pry him off her precious Niichan in some way or another. Souko appeared in the background in some of them, giggling and holding a sunhat on her head. In later pictures, her appearances slowly dwindled, and when she did appear she was looking tenser.

In other words, Utau's family seemed to just slowly fall apart slowly and painfully. I'll admit it; it made me feel better about my own family's quick and painless shattering. My mom had told me they were separating; Daddy had told me to give him a hug; gone. Quick. Painless. With this, it seemed drawn out.

*

I tried not to stare when a blue-haired boy showed up in the doorway of the entrance hall the next Monday morning, quickly backing away when Utau came over to him at a run. "IKUTO-KUN!" she shouted loud enough to put a launching rocket to shame.

Amu looked intently after him, confusion etched onto her face. "That's Utau's brother?"

"Yeah." I gave a nod.

"They don't really look that alike, do they?" Amu put her elbows on the table and stared shamelessly. This wasn't necessarily true; I thought I saw some faint resemblance in their eye colour and the casual snooty eyebrow arch they seemed to both have perfected, but I nevertheless nodded.

"Not really. Ikuto looks more like his father." At this comment, Amu stared at me funnily. "Just out of curiosity, Rima... how d'you know what his father looks like?"

"Photo albums," I took a drink of orange juice.

"You're still reading those?"

"They're interesting." Yaya gave me a bug-eyed look. "It's a bunch of pictures."

I turned on her. "Yeah, but I get to see Utau-nee in frilly angel and bunny Halloween costumes!"

The other girl nearly choked on her toast. "I-I WANNA SEE!"

"Oh, Utau's gesturing us over!" Amu stood up. "Maybe we'll get to meet him!" I forgot that Amu hadn't seen his scary letter. Oh well. Let her find out for herself.

"Yay!" Yaya stood up. "Let's go, Rima-tan!"

I quickly picked up my fork hesitantly. "No, it's okay. I'll stay here."

"Oh, don't be silly, Rima-chan!" Amu dragged me up with a feat of astonishing strength, still smiling like a maniac. "We should all go together, right?"

"I—" Dammit, no! Not the maniacal smile AND the 'friends belong together' line! I grumpily trailed after Amu and Yaya as they walked to the far side of the dining hall.

"There you guys are!" Utau turned around as we approached, looking ridiculously happy. "This is Ikurin, my brothe-"

"Tsukiyomi Ikuto." Three female heads of hair whipped around to stare at the culprit.

"Did you say something, dear?" Utau turned around with a vapid smile on her face.

Lifting up his chin slightly. "I'm _Tsukiyomi Ikuto._ Not _dear_, not _cuddlebunnies, _and definitely not _Ikurin_." His face was an unreadable mask of granite, and he all his dialogue in the same silky level voice.

"Whatever you say, Ikurin." Utau patted his arm, and turned back to us. "Anyway, he's my older brother!"

Amu was studying his face, looking puzzled (she was probably looking for family resemblance. He was staring right back at her, unflinching. Kinda creepy), and I wasn't looking ready to talk, so Yaya jumped in. "So it's Ikurin, right?! Nice to meet you! We didn't know that Utan had a brother!"

He just gave her a nod. Yaya didn't seem that fussed about it. Utau seemed to be used to his misanthropic attitude, and Yaya was following her lead. Amu was still looking baffled.

"Hoshina-san?" a sickeningly sweet voice filled my ears and I froze. "You _are _aware of the fact that males aren't allowed in the building unless during visiting hours, correct?"

The irony of that sentence is just killing me.

"So I can leave now?" Ikuto asked to nobody in particular.

"No, you can't!" Utau latched onto his arm.

"Yes, you can!" Nagihiko smiled evilly and tossed his ponytail.

"Great." Ikuto began to walk towards the door, but Utau dug her heels into the carpet. "You caaaaaaaan't!"

"Can't you just let him go this one time, Nade-chan?" Amu gave Nagihiko a sad face.

"Ahahahaha—no."

"We'll just go outside, then," Utau said firmly, dragging her brother into the entrance hall, and I thought I saw Nagihiko roll his eyes. I quickly tried to go after them, but something caught my arm.

"What do you want, Fujisaki?" I asked dully.

"You know exactly what I want." This sounded like the dialogue right before a rape, but I decided not to comment. "You're avoiding me."

"So?"

"So," he yanked me closer by my arm. "Look at me." Since when did he care if I ignored him? We had done it all the time to each other before. "_Look. At. Me._" He forced my chin up, and I felt thankful that the entrance hall was deserted. "You're not talking to me. You're not coming home at night. Why? What did I do?"

"Nothing!" I snarled. "Let me go!"

"No." His hazel eyes narrowed. "I'm not going to until you tell me exactly what I did to deserve this."

"Why do you _care_? You hate me." As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted it; his face contorted suddenly and I thought I saw something hurt and vulnerable beneath. I was pretty sure my heart skipped a beat. _He did hate me, right?_ "It's true isn't it, you hate-"

"When have I ever said that?" he asked quietly, letting me go, and I stopped my train of thought. _What_? Was he suggesting that he _didn't _hate me? That was absurd. I hated him; therefore he should hate me back. That was the way it went.

"Okay, but why do you care so much if I ignore you?" I shot back. He jerked his head up fiercely. "God dammit! I can't help it!"

I was confused.

REALLY confused.

For one, I thought he hated me. Two, I thought that he was worried about Amu but was instead doing this weird thing where he pretended to care why I was ignoring him at all. And three, he had basically just 'fessed up and said that he _DID _care or something along those lines and it was kind of unsettling and disturbing.

"What are you trying to say?" I asked in a low voice.

"Nothing," he turned around. "But, look. We have to stay in our dormitories at night, all right? If one of the teachers finds out, they'll be pissed."

I ignored him. "You want to know why I'm angry?"

He paused for a minute, giving me a casual glance. "I thought you weren't going to tell me?"

"I guess I won't, then, if you're so sure." I turned to walk away.

"Rima!"

I suddenly froze, feeling heat rise up my face and neck. Why was _I _blushing? Was it because he had called me by my first name? It was always _Ri-ri-tan _or _Mashiro _or just _hey, you_. When he said it seriously like that, it sounded...

I shook my head a couple times angrily. "What?"

"Why you're angry at me. Tell. Now."

"It's not that important, I guess," I muttered. To my horror, he suddenly whipped out a familiar piece of paper. "Oh, dear, Ri-ri-tan. What's this... a D in Science?" he clucked his tongue. "I think your airheaded mother needs to be informed of this."

"NO!" I ran at him and tried to wrench it out of his reach, but he just laughed and held it higher. "If you'd tell me why you're so cranky with me, I might be inclined to accidentally lose this!"

"Fine."

"Wh-What?" he stared at me, puzzled. "Really?"

"Later. Tonight, I guess."

A small smile appeared on his face that looked suspiciously genuine. "Ri-ri-tan's gonna swallow her pride and start sleeping in the dormitory again, I presume?"

I tried to control the muscles in my mouth, which seemed to want to curve up in some kind of sickening grin. I don't think it worked, though, because Nagihiko gave me a knowing look and suddenly kissed my forehead. "Good to have you back."

...

_GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK?! _I was about to try and say something, but I was too flustered to think straight and, anyway, he was already meandering off.

I had never been kissed on my forehead. Ever. It was kind of nice, really. Only the skin still burned where he had touched it.

Actually, my whole face burned. When I caught a look at my face in a mirror on the far end of the room, my cheeks were flushed and my mouth was slightly open in shock.

I was BLUSHING.

BLUSHING?!

I tried not to scream. Stay calm, stay calm. When in doubt, clean.

Clean.

Urge to clean!

Did I mention that whenever I'm distressed, I really, really want to tidy?

*

"You should be thankful!" I snapped at Utau. "This place is inhabitable."

"But you're making _me _clean too!" she growled, waving the Windex threateningly in my direction. Amu looked up from where she was washing all the empty ramen bowls in the sink. "But think of how happy Yua-chan will be when she gets back!"

"Yua, _Shmua_," Utau said forebodingly. "If Sakurai doesn't like my mess, she can sleep out in the hall!"

"She _does _sleep out in the hall," Amu quietly reminded her. Utau just gave a grunt of assent before continuing to wash the grimy windows.

"Yaya!" I yelled. "Come over here and help me put this mattress up against the wall."

"It looks huge!" Yaya adjusted the strap of her frilly apron. She was getting a kick out of this cleaning stuff.

"It's light. C'mon." We lifted it up against the wall, and the foreboding whirr of the vacuum could be heard. "Come on, you little dust bunnies," I whispered maniacally. "Get off the damn hardwood already!"

" – Mashiro-san?" I was suddenly aware that Lulu was standing in the doorway, looking baffled and a little frightened.

"Yamamoto-sempai?" I turned off the vacuum with a loud clatter from its inner mechanics. "What is it?"

"Fujisaki-san said you were here." Lulu passed us all letters. "Look! We have to take ballroom dancing in PE! Eurgh!"

Amu's golden eyes peeked over the rim of her own paper. "Why?"

"Who knows? But it's gonna suck. You know what a slave driver Yurimizu-sensei is."

"She sure is fierce for a sixty-year-old-lady in spandex," Utau muttered. "I think she has eyeliner tattooed to her eyelids."

"But – "Amu began, and when we all looked at her, she continued. "If we're learning ballroom dancing, doesn't that mean we'll be having a ball or something?"

"With who?" Utau put down her own paper.

"I-I dunno. Maybe the public school in the village?"

"Impossible," Lulu crumpled up her paper. "They wouldn't let us mix with the public school kids."

"Maybe we're not having a ball at all," Yaya shrugged. "Maybe it's just another ploy of Fujisaki-sensei's to turn us all into polished, young ladies." We all stared at the smallest girl in our midst, surprised that she'd have so much insight.

"I'll ask Nadeshiko tonight," I stood up. "We'd better get going, anyway."

*

"Ball?" Nagihiko looked up from where he'd been reading a manga that looked suspiciously like Kuroshitsuji. "I dunno."

I resisted the urge to hit myself.

"But they're going to make you wear dresses," he continued on, and I involuntarily gagged. "They're sending home a form to your parents to order practice gowns."

"You don't seem very upset," I observed. He glanced at me idly. "Why would I be?"

"You have to wear a dress." Stating the obvious, once again. Thank you, Straight Man Rima.

"So?" He rolled over on his bed, staring at several cracks in the ceiling above his bed. They were kinda shaped like Australia. "I wear dresses _quite_ well, actually." This was sadly true. Despite rather broad shoulders and the obvious lack of chest, he had thin legs and a slightly tapering waist. It was actually kind of annoying.

"By the way." Yawning, Nagihiko sat up on his bed. "Weren't you going to tell me something?"

I stared at him for several moments, and then remembered. "Oh. Right."

"So, what's got y'all irked?" he said, doing that annoying yanki slang thing again. I took a deep breath. "I- Nagihiko, can you tell me about your parents?"

A dark shadow passed over his eyes, similar to Nadeshiko's. "No. Next question."

"Why not?"

"_Next question_."

I stared at his face for a minute, which was looking similar to Ikuto's usual expression – flatly stoic and not betraying any feeling. Playing with a piece of my hair, I asked, "Do you still like Amu?"

His unaffected cold expression wavered. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Just – Just tell me!" He swallowed, and I saw the sharp outline of an Adam's apple on his throat. "I dunno."

"You don't – "

"I don't know how I feel about her." He brushed his bangs back from his face, and for a minute I saw Nadeshiko yesterday doing the same thing. "In her eyes, I'm never going to be anything but a girl. And I'm not even sure if I still have the same feelings for her, or if I ever did." He played with a piece of his hair pensively. "I think I was young, and stupid, and confusing love with friendship... and I might like someone else." He stood up and turned around, opening the curtains so that the violent orange sunset was visible.

"Who?" I asked automatically. He turned around, eyes glowing luminously, so that his hair swished. A flock of black crows fluttered past the window as he said with a careful smile:

"That's a secret, isn't it?"

* * *

**A/N: A;HDS;FADBAHAHAHAHALOLWTFBBQ. **

**I am so freaking dramatic. **

"**THAT'S A SECRET ISN'T IT *flying crows hair blowing in the sunset breeze*"**

**Heehee. I'm sorry we didn't get to see much Ikuto. He's staying for a couple days – so – he'll be staying for a couple chapters! **

**BTW. This is a reply to an anonymous review on Rima Can't Spell—I can't do it on that story, even, so I'll have to do it HERE. D: You can skip it, if y'like. It's quite long. I'm thinking about replying to all my anonymous reviews in this section, but I'm really so much more inclined to reply if you have an account.**

**I totally forgot about this too, as directed to the epic lurker ChocolatePockyLover. PS stands for post-script. It was invented during the time of letters, when you wrote in ink and people didn't have erasers. So if you forgot something just after you signed your name, you were forced to put it underneath the signature, where you put "post-script" and later just P.S. to let them know it was part of the original body of the letter. So to write a follow-up to a P.S. it'd be P.P.S and so forth – Post-Post-Script. **

**sarah ()**: You really should get an account, pshaww. So much more fun that way, and it's really easy.

But anyway – Thank you so much for reading my story all the way through and leaving not one – but FOUR reviews! I'm still here, silly, I could never just go poof after finishing one story. I still obsessively check my inbox every day going "REVIEWS? ANY REVIEWS HUH?" and most definitely, your love and passion for reading my stories HAS reached me, and – oh god now I'm getting all sentimental and warm and fuzzy and crap.

It hasn't been that long since I finished it up, either – it ended in maybe February? And it's only April now. And it doesn't feel as though you have a dull boring OR baka life with several older brothers giving you the most epic battle for the computer evar. I'm an only child, it's always so quiet at our house and I used to want an older brother. Actually, sometimes I pretend that I DO... pfft... I am super-strange.

Hee – and to reply to one of your other reviews, I'm in grade nine. But strictly speaking, my academic intelligence is more on a grade eight level and I'm more mentally that age... so we'll just go with grade eight/age thirteen for accuracy purposes.

But I don't want you to feel empty and emotionless when you've finished all my stories – when I write, what I want to do is empower people. Well, that's what I'd LIKE to do with my stories – I'm afraid all I do is make people laugh. You can be glad to know that I grinned like a flaming idiot when somebody said they OVERJOYED them \\\\\

But I'm still updating this one, and the threeshot has one more chapter to go. And, oh god, when the other readers see this they'll go insane, but I have an idea for ANOTHER alternate-universe Rimahiko – somebody shoot me! And then after that maybe an Axis Powers Hetalia fanfiction, or –

But, you get the idea. Basically I'm not going away for a long, long time. I hope you'll put up with me!

Oh, that's right. I nearly forgot. *Gives virtual cookie* Sorry, I only got white-chocolate-macadamia nut left~

- Kimi-chii~* (heh.)

**Random Trivia: **

**- You're ttly right Chika Hoshi. Didn't even THINK of Aya Hirano, but I'd like her as Amu xDD I am a super-die-hard fan of Hirano-sama is probably why.**

**- It would take three hours for someone to take the train from Kyoto to Kamikawa. LOL. I find it hilarious that Nadeshiko willingly rides a train for three hours just to see her cute li'l brother. **

**- ha;sdhfa;sdf I need to think up more awesome trivia. Duuuurrr... Anything random and sidestory-ish that anyone would like to know? **

**Aha, if anyone actually HAS any sidestory-ish stuff they'd like to know I'll probably be flattered flat. U see pun I made thur? **


	8. 友

**A/N: Darn my classical music dorkiness – I had to listen to Ave Maria and Tsuki no Waltz whilst writing all this. Sad, eh? **

**... Aha dude, I just showed off my Canadian accent thur. HOW ABOOT SUM MAPLE SYRUP IN OUR IGLOO EH**

**But on with the chapter—**

**Hey kiddies: ... Uhh... if you ever have to take dancing of any kind in PE, skip it. Take it from someone who has now memorized the Tennessee Wigwam. *mutters, "fucking square dancing!"***

Chapter 8

友

*

"_That's a secret, isn't it?" _

"_That's a secret..." _

"_... isn't it?" _

"_Isn't it?" _

"_Secret – " _

"_That's – " _

"_Isn't it—" _

I woke up for about the fifth time that night with the same feeling of uneasiness. It wasn't like I was unused to sleeping here again. After all, I had been back here for about a week and I already wanted to kill Nagihiko, so it seemed like all was back to normal. But for a minute, I thought I had heard a teakettle whistling.

I got up, wrapping a blanket around me as I padded towards the other bed.

It was empty.

I turned towards the bathroom, where the door was ajar with the lights out. Had Nagihiko snuck out? If he had, I was going to drag his sorry ass all the way back here if it took all night. I had been just plotting _how _I was exactly going to do that when I noticed that there was a light on in the kitchen alcove.

Walking in, Nagihiko looked up. "You should be asleep."

"Can't sleep," I unarticulated, sitting down. The boy opposite me was looking haggard and pale, with a half-full cup of tea in front of him. I stared in utter fascination at the dark bluey-purple shadows that swooped down like brushstrokes almost elegantly from the pale white lower eyelids.

"Can't sleep, either." He gazed almost dreamily back at me, and it occurred to me that he had been rather clumsy lately. "Nightmares waking you up?" I asked brusquely, and immediately regretted it. Nagihiko may have been sleep-deprived, but the sudden glare he shot me wasn't diluted whatsoever. "What d'you mean, nightmares?"

"Nothing." I said it coolly, but inside I was panicking.

For a minute, I thought he was going to give me a scathing remark or otherwise disrupt the peace in some way; but to my surprise he just slumped back down in his seat. "They always show up more, this time of year."

"Why?"

He didn't answer, just started playing with his hair incessantly. Finally, he said, "I suppose the human mind is a strange thing."

I walked over to the half-full teakettle and poured myself a glass without asking him. "I-Is it?"

"Yes." He said it resolutely like he had cracked open a couple skulls and taken a peek himself – he hadn't, had he? I wouldn't have put it past him, I thought distractedly. "Who knows why they show up around the same time?"

Taking my seat again, I leaned forward and repeated my earlier question. "Why?"

"I don't want to tell you," he said placidly, taking a drink of tea. Letting the cup rest back on the table with a muffled _clack_, he seemed to think better of his abrupt dismissal of the subject. "Look," he said quietly. "You don't want to know."

I froze. "Why not?"

"You just... don't. You would hate me."

"But I already hate you." He probably would have believed me more if my voice wasn't shaky – and I found myself stopping. I wasn't even convincing myself; were my feelings for Nagihiko in neutral ground now?

Eyeing me levelly, he mumbled, "Good." He held his gaze with me, his voice slipping up an octave as if he wasn't aware of it. "You should sleep."

"So should you," I replied back coldly, but got up anyway, fuming with myself for doing what he said.

*

"You're both disgusting, you know that?" Utau asked, staring in awe at Yaya and me, who were both eating sausages at a furious rate with an air of glee. Yaya seemed to be wholeheartedly showing her appreciation to the school cafeteria cooks, whereas I was just trying to drown out my thoughts with food.

It didn't work.

I knew that Nagihiko and I weren't friends; I had said myself that we were enemies. But we weren't. I was sure of that now, in my brain, so only one more question remained: How did he feel about me? He didn't hate me, he never had. It was an irritatingly one-sided thing that I had been too stubborn to bury.

What was with this attraction I had to this boy, anyway? Did I find something particularly striking about having a traumatic childhood? Or was it simply because I didn't know the story behind my sworn enemy, the troubles he had to go through that probably made him worse off then I?

"Little Rima-chan's off in thought again~," Utau said gleefully, getting up. Amu mirrored her motions. "We have to get to class! Leave the dozy daydreamer behind." Her mauve eyes hardened. "You've been quite deep in thought lately. Perhaps you should take up Philosophy." I stiffened as I heard her voice drip heavily with suspicion. She couldn't know! I thought frantically. If she let it on at _all_ – oh, god, if I thought Fujisaki-sensei was scary that one time, imagine how bad it'd be if she knew that somebody else knew, and then I'd know that...

I shook my head furiously. "Not really!" God dammit, thinking was making my brain hurt. I halfheartedly followed my friends to class, shuffling grumpily and realizing that I hadn't done my homework.

Crap.

"Mashiro," Sanjo-sensei said menacingly a few minutes later as the bell rang, looming over my desk. "Are you sure you left your homework back in your dormitory? Because that's what you said last class. Are you _sure _that this homework of yours _isn't _just a figment of your imagination?"

Leaning back, I tried smiling. Smiles make everything better! "Perhaps?"

She heaved a huge sigh.

"Come now; don't sigh like that, Yukarin." I tried to be nice and supportive of my teacher. And how does she repay me? She adjusts her glasses and says, "Well, I suppose Fujisaki can always help you. Ask her help, she's quite intelligent." Quite intelligent?! Really, Sanjo-sensei? Really?!

I forced a smile. "I'll do that." When stars shine green in a yellow sky and hell freezes over.

"Good."

I slumped back in my seat, and Amu patted my head in a misguided attempt to cheer me up. "It's okay, Rima-chan, Nadeshiko's a really good tutor!"

I snorted. "Like I'm going to get help from her?" She pursed her lips, but didn't say anything.

School passed by at a snail's pace, but I barely noticed; I was too busy playing tic-tac-toe with the girl across the aisle from me.

"Mashiro."

"In a minute, I'm nearly beating Akifuji-san." Sanjo-sensei cleared her throat, and the whole class burst out into giggles as I looked up, flushing. The girl who I had been playing against made the "death" symbol across her throat as Sanjo-sensei pushed up her glasses for the billionth time that day, glaring. "Mashiro-kun, you haven't been paying attention all day. It's last period. At least _try_ to last it out."

"Yes, sensei," I said meekly.

"Like I was saying," she turned back to the class. "From now on, last period is going to be joint-class."

There was silence, and then Amu put up her hand. "With what other class?"

"With Nikaidou's, of course." I suddenly choked on air and everyone turned to look at me. "I'm fine," I croaked. "Please go on."

She gave me another icy glare. "That's all. Dismissed." There was a deafening scraping of chairs as the whole class made a mad dash for the doors. Sliding between two plaid skirts, I managed to make it out. _Freedom! Yes! I'm free! _

"Hold it, midget." A slender hand caught the back of my collar and I almost choked again, this time from lack of air. "What d'you want?!"

"Do I have to want anything?" Nagihiko asked nonchalantly, falling into step beside me. "I live with you. I'm going to end up walking with you home. Get used to it."

I eyed him suspiciously. Nagihiko never walked home with me. Ever. Reaching the front hall, I tried to pull the door open in a cool manner, but it didn't budge. Frowning furiously, and feeling myself blush again, I pushed harder. Nothing.

And did it _really_ help that Nagihiko burst out laughing so hard that he staggered back a couple steps? No, it did not. Thanks for being helpful, asshole.

I turned around and started walking towards the other end. "We'll go out the back door." Giving me a slow smile reminiscent of a crocodile about to eat a small fluffy animal, he said slyly, "Or, you could just ask me to help you."

"I could, but I don't want to," I said testily. Almost feeling his frown, I heard him say behind me, "You ruin all my fun."

"That's just one of the many specialties we offer!" I said in a falsely cheery voice, beginning to skip at my excellent comebacks.

"Why are you skipping like a small child?" he said airily, catching up to me. "I almost wonder if you should really be in middle school."

"If temperament was any indication of schooling level, you'd be in jail." I was almost having fun arguing with him; he was quick with rebuttals and although he was seriously lacking in wit, that couldn't be helped.

"It seems as though Ri-Ri-tan's been reading the dictionary. Big words are flying out of her mouth faster then spit."

"Maybe I'm just bright?" He was right next to me now, as we walked out the back door and into the sunlight. Frowning at me, he said seriously, "Your grades are no indication of your cleverness."

I nearly gagged on nothing for the third time that day. Was Nagihiko actually saying that I was _smart_?! I repeated the question out loud, and he stared at me, still looking utterly serious. "From the way you talk, it's obvious that you have a quick mind and high intelligence levels. Your academic flaws is that you lack work ethic, and from what I see this is because you cannot see the point to the questions the teachers ask you. _What is the capital of Aichi Prefecture_? You can't see how this question would help anybody. However, if somebody asked you what came first, the chicken or the egg, you could probably ponder it for years – am I right?"

I just stared at him. "I don't know what you're right about, but I sure know that I'm right about you being a creeper. Have you read all my teacher's comments on my report cards?"

"Maybe."

"And, just so that you know – the chicken came first. A chicken would appear out of evolution, right? The first chicken would have most likely been the product of asexual reproduction due to its bacterial ancestry, so no egg would have been necessary."

"This is my point exactly. Wait for me!" I was running ahead of him; the sunlight was making me giddy. He suddenly started sprinting to catch up at me, and I started; not only were we actually getting along, but I also failed to remember how athletic he was. It only took about thirty seconds for me to slow down, panting heavily. "Fine! I give up!" The weird thing was, I didn't really feel angry about giving up like I usually did. This wasn't the usual type of competition between us; it seemed practically friendly.

"Are you OK?" He paused, staring back at me. "F-Fine," I panted, giving him a grateful smile. That was when a bit of sneer went back into his face. "Rima's not good at running, huh?"

"You knew that."

"Of course I did." Opening the door to the East Wing, I followed him up the stairs silently, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, I ran past him up the stairs to our dormitory, tripping over a box. "The HELL?!" Nagihiko cursed under his breath, picking it up. "Practice dresses," he said grimly.

"For what?"

"What else but ballroom dancing?" Nagihiko gave me a sideways look and picked up the box. When we were inside, he set the box down on the table as I turned towards the kitchen. "I'll go get the scissor—" I cut off my sentence rapidly when Nagihiko pulled an X-Acto knife out of his pocket with a maniacal murderous look on his face. "No need~"

"Why the hell do you carry around stuff like this in your pocket?!" he ignored my question, slicing open the cardboard flaps of the box and staring at the powder blue silken fabric inside dully. "Well, this is going to seal away my manliness for good."

"Manliness? You have none," I snorted and pulled one out. They were pretty, and I would easily admit in my head that I'd want to wear one. I couldn't help but release a little giggle at the sight of it; I really did like my princess dresses and had often pored through dresses in catalogs just like this one as a child. "I'm going to go try it on!" I ran into the closet dizzily, quickly undoing my uniform shirt and pulling it on. "Nagi, look!" I ran out, spinning a full circle. "IT POOFS OUT!"

He groaned under his breath. "Brilliant." Feeling a little spoiled and much more then a bit childish, I tugged on his arm with reckless abandon. "Nagihikoo. You have to _look!_"

"I am looking!"

"No, you're not, you liar," I retorted. "You're sliding your X-Acto knife blade out and in again."

"Fine, fine." He heaved a giant sigh, reluctantly looking up. "There, see, I'm looki- oh." He cut off abruptly, staring at me for a minute before turning his attention back to the knife. "Well, it sure does suit you."

"What d'you mean by that!" I said shortly, pulling on his arm again. "It looks good, right?"

"Why are you fishing for compliments?" he brushed some indigo hair out of his eyes, eyeing me with an air of apprehensiveness. "You look nice. Happy?"

"I need better then that!" My frown deepened and he gave another giant sigh. "You really need to stop that." _Ouch_. "Fine." When I had changed back into regular clothes (I was not getting back into that uniform – it needed washing, anyway) Nagihiko was scanning a letter. "Who's that from?" I asked, stretching my arms irritably. He turned his eyes back to me briefly, before turning back to the letter. "Your mother."

There was a pregnant silence, and then I snapped. "WHAT THE HE—WHY'S SHE WRITING TO YOU?!"

"She's not," he snickered. "You should really put locks on your envelopes or other people can read them." He handed it back to me, still laughing nastily under his breath.

_Dear Rima-chan_

_You still haven't written! Really, I'm about ready to fire the postman. Are you busy or something? Working hard on your studies? Well, I suppose you're just having lots and lots of fun without your old mother around._

_Anyway, could you believe it? My sisters are visiting from Hokkaido, and you know how they feel about Bakatan _(He barfed in their purses. Enough said?)_. So I'll need you to take him. Oh, but no pets allowed in the dormitory, right? Well, whatever, I'm sure they won't catch you. He'll be there tomorrow._

He WHAT?! She was shipping that damn cat off on ME?! I gave a growl of frustration as I crumpled the letter up into a ball and threw it towards the trash can (It missed. I've never been very good at basketball). "How could she think that I could take that thing?!"

Nagihiko lazily pulled his hair out of a ponytail. "What's wrong with it?"

I groaned, flopping down onto my bed. "He's fat, he's lazy, he eats everything in sight including napkins, paper, and _homework_."

"So pets really do eat homework, huh...?" a thin smile graced his features briefly.

"This one does." I turned on my side, watching him comb his hair in the mirror on the wall. "Nagi?"

"Where'd this whacko nickname come from, _Ri-Ri-tan_?" I saw his face contort irritably in the mirror. "I think I have the right to give you stupid nicknames if you give them to me."

"Hrrrgghhhh." He made a weird grunt of assent. "Okay? What is it?"

"Can you put your hair back into a ponytail?" There was a long silence, before he retied it. "Why?"

I smiled dimly at his curious look. "I think I like you better as Nadeshiko."

I saw him stiffen, and he yanked the hair elastic out again. "Why?!" his voice had a maniacal edge, and he gave me the billionth glare that day.

I turned to the other side, so that he couldn't see my face. "When you're like that... you still kind of frighten me." My lip trembled and I gritted my teeth to make it stop. What was I, weak?

I heard another growl of frustration before Nagihiko walked right up to me, glowering. "You're still scared to death of me just because of my gender? Seriously?" I rolled over onto my back, eyes widening suddenly as he put both his hands on either side of my body, raising an eyebrow. "Rima, no matter how much I may look like my sister, I'll never be Nadeshiko." His fists clenched. "Even if I put my hair in a ponytail, I'm still male – so why should it matter?" Taking one hand, he pulled his hair back up behind his head. "Look. I have a ponytail, but I'm still scaring the crap out of you, right?" He exhaled sharply, and rolled off me, sitting at the end of my bed.

"Nagihiko...?" I sat up, and he mumbled, "I really wonder why people like her more than me."

"That's not—"

"Yes, it is." He glanced back at me, the usually warm and lively brown eyes dark and icy. "I have an outer personality that's phony, and an underlying one that's arrogant." His mouth tightened. "Don't look so surprised; I may not make any move to fix them, but I'm aware of my own flaws." I folded my legs underneath me, stunned. He didn't sound quite so sarcastic and confident as he usually did; he was looking resigned and bitter and more then capable of murder.

"Stop it," I gritted out, and he glared at me. "Stop _what_?"

"Stop your pity-party! If you're happy with how you are, your flaws shouldn't matter." My voice softened. "Some people say that we don't love despite someone's flaws, we love them because of them."

It was so silent in the room, I could hear the clock ticking and muffled voices from the room next to ours. Finally, I heard him inhale and say something. "So you love me?"

I shoved him, suddenly, and he fell over sideways onto my bed. "Ow, what was that fo-"

"Nagihiko, shut up and listen for a minute." I got up and stood so that I was taller then him, and he gave me a confused look. "I want to start over."

"What d'you mean?"

"I want us to start over, and pretend that any of the history we ever had doesn't exist." I frowned briefly. "Can we try being friends?" I tried to keep my face neutral, and not look like a begging, whiny kid. Lips curing up into some kind of smarmy, knowing smile, he asked, "Are we going to shake on it like businessmen?"

"This _is _business! Serious business!" I barked at him, and he rolled over, closing his eyes. "Yeah, but I'm tired."

"Don't go to sleep on my bed! You have to shake on it!" I glared down at him, and he just looked back at me sleepily. "Besides," I said, lowering my voice to its usual soft pitch, "I thought you couldn't sleep?"

He shut his eyes and smiled. "I think I can, now."

*********

**A/N: LAME ENDING IS LAME. *shot* I am the queen of corniness, and OTL I hate OOC Nagi, and this took ages to write-- *rantrantrant*. **

**For some reason I'm all jittery now. Thanks a lot, tea. See? I'm so insane that I'm taking to inanimate objects. Woo. **

**I can't believe I'm saying this, either, since I swore that I wouldn't say it EVER, since it's a low and idiotic thing to do. But, if you could, could you drop a review for me? You know, giving some comments and criticism. If you'd just like to say "UPDATE!" I'm not exactly going to give you a medal. **

**... Oh yeah, Black Day chapter. LATE MUCH?! Um. You'll get it, just later... *ROLLS* **

**FAQ (Trivia ain't cuttin' it no moar.)**

**(Thank you for givin' meh question, Madmae16. You're amazin'.)**

**1) WHY DOES TSUKI NO KIMI DO THIS RETARDED CRAP WHERE SHE GIVES CHAPTERS THEMES???!!! (Actual question: ****Why do you have themes to your chapter names? (I.E. His fist kiss, what about mine? You get the idea.)**

**A: I can't explain this very well, but here goes nuthin' amirite? Well, I like something that... ties the chapters all together, marking them as under the same roof. Or something like that. With Rima Can't Spell, I just liked my redundancy (word?) giving everything HIM HE SHE beginnings T_T With these chapter names, it represents my idiotic love of Chinese characters. (Well, kanji -- but the Japanese so kindly stole them from China so yeah). **

**2) Did you know that pandas are actually carnivorous? (HAHAAA MAD ECLAIR YOU ASKED A FAQ.)**

**A: ... No oAo I don't know very much about pandas. Deprived childhood much? I'm never going near one of those creepy li'l raccoon-bears ever again...**


	9. 舞

**This is the first chapter of the rewrite". Oh, and thank you so much to Kintora for the suggestion of 'Like A Lady', that actually works fantabulously and GOD THANK YOU GUYS BECAUSE I SUCK AT TITLES REALLY HARD AND HAHAAHAHHAAA**

**I think you can tell when I start forcing them more IC and such... ****Completely cutting out all the disgusting cliché crap, and uh...**

**W-wish me luck, I'm going to try really hard with this story.**

* * *

Chapter 9

舞

"You're a cute little baby, aren't you? Yes, you are. You're just the cutest little biddle kitty-cat ever, yes!"

This was the first thing I heard when I walked in after class, intent on grabbing my dress for PE in the afternoon. I was greeted by the sight of a euphoric Nagihiko cuddling a large and morbidly obese cat that looked _extremely _familiar.

I screamed so loudly that the whole East Wing could probably hear me.

"_BAKATAN_?"

Nagihiko suddenly dropped my cat on the floor, where the animal bounced several times before wobbling to a standstill, much like Jell-O. "I—"

"What were you doing?" I asked grumpily, lowering my voice drastically.

"I – uh – I was yelling at that horrible thing for eating my sock! Yeah..." He was looking extremely uncomfortable, and I had no idea why.

I picked Bakatan up by the scruff of the neck, fuming. "How could she... dump this thing on me!" Of course, by _she _I meant my loony mother. Although my aunts could be allowed to take some of the blame as well, I suppose.

Taking several brisk steps towards the window, I made a move to drop Bakatan out through the opening when Nagihiko ran in front of me, shielding the cat from the window. "RIIIIIMAAAA!"

"I'm kind of busy right now, Nagihiko!"

"How can you think of throwing that innocent animal out of the window?" His voice was on full whiny pitch, and he looked genuinely miserable. I reluctantly dropped my cat back on the floor, where he immediately slunk underneath Nagihiko's bed. "We can't keep him here," I said, trying to be reasonable. Nagihiko was intelligent – he could understand this. "The dorm leader will catch us."

Nagihiko wasn't listening. He was too busy trying to drag out Bakatan from underneath the bed. I sighed loudly, remembering what I was here for, and rifled through my closet for a minute before pulling out the dress. "What're you still doing here, anyway?"

"Free period."

"Liar."

"No, I'm serious!" After having successfully caught Bakatan, he rolled onto his bed with the cat on his stomach. "I don't need to take English, so I get a free period."

I didn't say anything, only grumbled something under my breath about Bilingual Bastards and stalked out the door, shutting it. To my utter bewilderment, he opened it again and followed me. "Your apparent free-period's over?" I asked snidely.

"Yup." He caught up with me, smiling ominously. "I have World History with Nikaidou. We're learning about the magic of World War two."

"Oh?"

"What d'you have next?"

Silence. Nagihiko cocked his head to the side and stared at me hard before I finally muttered, "Gym."

He burst out laughing. "HAHA! You have to _dance_!"

"Thank you for that, Captain Obvious." I heaved a sigh. "I suppose you're just awesome at dancing as well?"

"Well, my mother used to make me take lessons," he said amiably, blinking at me. Since we had tried to be friends, this is the way he would often answer things – by being amiable and/or reasonable. In September, he would have answered something along the lines of, "Of course! I'm multitalented and awesome!"

I could have kid myself and said that I had uncovered his deredere inner personality. But I didn't. Of course I hadn't! That would mean... we were like... close. Ew.

"Rima?" Looking back at him, he put a hand on my head. "If you need any help, I could always practice with you!"

"Thanks, but no thanks," I gave him what was probably a very smarmy smile. "I'm very good at dancing!"

He tilted his head to the side, skeptical, before leaning forward and saying in a low voice, "Are you sure that Rima-cha~n isn't just lying?"

Stiffening, I glared at him. "I—of course!"

"Just like you're good at schoolwork? I dimly remember something about _Nadeshiko _having to tutor you..."

I clenched my fists. "How did you find out about that?"

"Sanjo-sensei. I talk to the teachers, Rima." There was a self-satisfied grin on his face as he sauntered down the hallway, me bobbing in his wake. "If you were having trouble in school, why didn't you just ask me?"

"Because!" I growled. "Similar to you listening to the teachers, _I _listen to the first-years that have you as a tutor."

Nagihiko gave a carefree laugh. "They were simply exaggerating!"

"I don't think so. Hiiragi seemed pretty traumatized."

Nagihiko turned around, putting a warm hand on my shoulder, and I instantly stiffened and felt something in my stomach flip. "Why don't we just go over some stuff tonight, and see how you feel?" He was doing that annoying head-tilt-and-frown thing, that he seemed to think could twist the world off its axis or something. Sadly, he was right.

"W-What's your ulterior motive?" I attempted a suspicious look, and my apparent long-haired friend looked surprised. "There is none. I just want to help you."

"Yeah, right," I retorted, and he made a tiny flinching motion. "Why do you not believe me?"

"Because you hated me, up until about a week ago." I gave a tiny sigh, as though this was obvious.

"But I don't hate you," he insisted, grabbing my arm so that I couldn't walk away.

"I'm going to be late!"

"So be late. I never hated you, I've told you this. Really. I didn't really care how rude you were to me, I just wanted us to be friends..." My limbs became immobile, and under a thick layer of flustering I felt a twinge of annoyance. All Nagihiko had to do was turn on his weird, genuinely-nice act and I got all embarrassed; it was like he had been waiting for me to tell him that we should start over so that he could stop his arrogant-bastard-charade.

He didn't control me.

No, he didn't. I shook my head, realized what I had done, and quickly changed it into a nod. His eyes seemed to soften for a minute, and he patted my shoulder. "Good."

"LADIES!" our spandex-clad PE teacher barked like a military commander. I flinched, taking a step back and almost tripping over my heels. _Why heels? Why heels, dammit? _my brain cried out in protest. I felt almost insulted; Nagihiko could sail down the length of our dormitory hallway in those accursed stilettos, and I still stumbled like some kind of kid who was learning how to walk.

"Pair up with another girl, please. I'm going to teach you where to put your arms."

I unconsciously reached an arm out and gripped a pale silken blue sleeve; Yaya gave me a wide grin and a thumbs-up. "O-K!" she said, in an odd mangled imitation of English. "We'll be partners, Rima-tan!"

I inwardly exhaled in relief; I wasn't finding myself able to face Amu lately, Not knowing Nagihiko's possible feelings for her. She seemed like a prime candidate, after all; she was pretty, she was cute, and he _had _kissed her.

Giving an involuntary shudder, I pulled Yaya over to the opposite side of the gym from where Amu was practicing with Manami.

_Slam._

"How'd it go?" Nagihiko was lying on his bed again, flipping through some educational book on psychology.

"How d'you _think_?"

"Badly?"

"Yes," I snarled. "Stupid PE teacher, with her fugly spandex and shrieky voice and..."

Nagihiko turned a page. "Lemme guess. You tripped in the heels."

"Shut up!"

Sharp hazel eyes flew swiftly over to me. "Tripped over the hem of the dress?"

"No!"

Grin. "I bet she made you demonstrate in front of the class after that..."

I gave a loud wail and flung myself onto my own bed. "Why can't I be graceful, dammit!"

I felt him put down his book with a soft _thump_. "Don't fake cry."

"I'm not!" _Anymore_, I added silently.

"And you _are_ graceful. You just need practice..." I really need to appreciate Nagihiko more. Yeah, he was nasty, and rude... but he knew how to stroke egos and had a lulling and _extremely _seductive voice.

Of course I can get away with saying that! I'm a hormonal teenager!

Hawhaw.

Yawning, I rolled over onto my back. "Gaaaaahhhhasurflapjackcheese."

"What the heck was that?"

"Nothing."

"Anyway," Nagihiko got up, smiling maniacally. "D'you wanna start tutoring now?"

I gave him a look that, now that I look back on it, must have looked rather pathetic. It involved my eyes lowering dramatically and shoving my lower lip out. I let my head flop to the side, staring out the window. The weather was definitely on my side; the sky was covered in a blanket of clouds that filtered the sun evenly over the grass. Perfect day to take an afternoon nap. Not to pore over geography questions.

"Rima, you shouldn't procrastinate; it's bad for your mental health."

"You're the one who needs to examine their mental health," I rolled my eyes.

"What would you know about mental health, Doctor Mashiro?" Nagihiko leaned over me, suddenly offering me a hand. "Hey. You're still in that dress. Let me help you."

I stared up at him, bewildered. "Pardon?"

"Dancing. Up. Do you want to fail PE?"

"Yes." I glared with the fire of a thousand suns, but clearly Nagihiko must have thought I was begging to be taken into his manly arms or something, since he grabbed my hands.

"Didn't your mother tell you that you shouldn't touch a lady, Fujisaki?" I said icily, and he ignored me and yanked me up to my feet. I stumbled over the high-heeled silken shoes, falling right into his chest.

"So desperate, Mashiro."

"Shut your huge gob, Fujisaki," I muttered, rubbing my nose. "Just teach me how to dance."

"May I have a _please?_" Naghihiko asked sweetly, wrapping an arm securely around my waist and dragging me out into the center of the room.

"No."

"So rude for somebody who fancies herself a lady, Rima." His hand went to my spine, where he dug his fingers in sharply, forcing me into an upright position, and I winced slightly.

"Back straight, Rima. Point your toes."

"I can't," I replied sharply. "I'm in _heels_." Stubborn, unyielding heels.

"Make it look like you are," he replied gently, grabbing my left leg in what I felt was an infringement of my personal bubble. "Bend your ankle and straighten your leg."

I did so.

"Good. Hahahaha, your legs are like a little kid's." Gritting my teeth, I wondered if he had ever genuinely complimented somebody in his life.

"Sorry if I'm not gorgeous and curvy like your boytoys, Nagi!" I replied irritably, trying to take a step to the right.

"Wrong way. You go to the left." Nagihiko flashed me a pointed smile. "And they're not boytoys."

"Sorry, lesbian lovers."

"I'm straight." Nagihiko casually spun me into a circle of orange light on the carpet, coming in from outside; his hair lit up. It wasn't the best way to explain what it did; it certainly didn't glow like the fourth of July, but the long dark hair looked for a minute like it had caught a sort of glossy, scarlet fire in the light of the setting sun.

"Your hair looks ginger," Nagihiko observed quietly, basically paraphrasing my thoughts.

"And yours looks flaming!" I retorted, quite wittily — not.

"Good to know you're checking out my hair, Ri-ri-tan. Focus on your feet. You've stepped on my shoes three times already."

"That was on purpose," I replied casually, trying to grab at his shoulders harder and force him into a pattern.

"Rima, darling!" he sang out. "Man is leading!"

"Why?"

"Because that's the way it is," he shrugged, taking a step back and leaving me struggling to keep up.

"Why should I be satisfied with that answer, Fujisaki? Why should a man be the designated to lead a women and that she should follow him blindly?"

It was silent for a minute, in the dim room; a crow cawed outside. Nagihiko spoke suddenly. "Trust.

You have to trust me enough that I'm going to be here to catch you if you stumble on your feet—that if you forget the steps, I'll cover for you."

"You're not going philosophical on me, are you?"

"That's what dancing in pairs is about, Rima. It's about trusting your partner with your life." Nagihiko stared at me.

"I think I preferred _Ri-ri-tan_," I said feebly, and he gave a humorless laugh. "You're the same as ever."

"I'm always the same." I let go of his hands, feeling rather cold without him right next to me.

"That's why I like you," he shrugged, wandering off to the kitchen.

I jerked up, my heart in my mouth suddenly. "Wh-what?"

He didn't reply, just casually started clanging together pots and pans.

"I'm going out," I growled, starting to yank out clothes from my closet.

"It's past curfew!" he called from the kitchen, distantly.

"Go stick a rulebook up your ass, Fujisaki." I changed and walked out, tossing my hair grumpily. How dare he drop stupid things like that, just when I thought we were getting along! _That's why I like you_, what was that supposed to mean? Why was he such a stupid enigma? Stupid, stupid, stupid! It was times like these that I need Utau— as of late, Yaya and Amu were just vapid moronic idiots. Gritting my teeth, I picked up my pace.

"She wants your tits. No other explanation." Utau unwrapped a granola bar.

"What _is _that? And can you rephrase that? ... And she's a girl," I added as an afterthought, remembering.

"She obviously _looooooooooooooooooooooves_ you," she crooned, and I shook my head furiously, making my bangs whip from side to side. "No. He's up to something." Shit, shit, _SHIT. _She. I meant she.

Utau shrugged, turning towards the door. "Rima, this is what I mean."

"By what?" I retorted.

"Why don't you just assume she's genuinely attracted to you?" Utau's eyes gleamed in the quickly darkening light, and I bit my lip and turned away from her. "She's not, Hoshina. Everyone who likes me likes me for that aloof persona I put up; for my looks."

"Please don't start angsting about how your beauty is a curse, cry me a _river_. At least you haven't started on the _but I don't swing that way_ bullshit yet," The taller girl rolled her eyes.

"I'm not!" I exclaimed resentfully, turning around to face her. "I don't _swing that _way—"

"— For a straight chick, you're kind of getting all lovey-dovey over her—"

"Look, I like being pretty. Guys are my slaves. Everyone is jealous."

"You really shouldn't like it for those reaso—"

I ignored her. "But it means that my personality is just really unpleasant, and for everyone to fall for me out of my looks, Nagihiko is the last boy I want."

"Nagihiko?"

"I said Nadeshiko."

"Since when is Nadeshiko a _he_?" Utau sniggered, and I panicked, feeling myself flush. "She acts like such a man, I get confused," I lied through my teeth.

"But! You _do _admit that you want her to notice your charming personality." Utau took a huge bite out of her granola bar, and I hunched my shoulders up. "Anybody would have to get past a lot of passive-aggressive to do that."

"If you notice it, you can probably fix it," Utau observed, and I shook my head frantically again. "I'm not changing myself for other people!"

"Ah, girls in love." Utau threw the wrapper off the side of the building; 'Nadeshiko' would have had a fit and given her a five-minute lecture on the environment. "They're walking hypocrites."

"I-"

"Nah, I won't tell anyone, Mashiro."

"Tell anyone what?" I sputtered.

"That you're _gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!_" she said sarcastically. "I'm not telling anyone that you like Nade-nade, of course."

"I'm not gay! And I don't like Nadeshiko!"

"Sweetie, it's past curfew. Get your ass in bed," Utau said bluntly, opening the door. I stood there, listening to the clack of her shoes get fainter and fainter and wondering if she knew the truth.


	10. 教

**I told everyone to stop telling me to update after over a year, and then I update. #bitchy_author_lyf**

**Also, Rima is an idiot. But you knew that! It's great to be back. This chapter is short and uneventful, and just so that you know, a HUGE FRACTION is from the original story. The next chapter will be- slightly more eventful, I hope? The one after that is the ball, which is when this ball will get rolling, so to speak. ... I think I just made a pun, I want to die.**

**Also-! I will be getting a book cover up. Hopefully soonish? I was so excited when I saw the update, BEST FFN UPDATE EVER BOOK COVERS OH GOD OH GOD**

* * *

Chapter 10

教

It was Friday, well into November, when Sanjo-sensei said the dreaded words that I hate the most.

It wasn't, "Mashiro, for setting off fireworks on the back lawn, we're going to have to call your mother."

It wasn't, "Mashiro, it is not appropriate to make your peers carry you on their shoulders to class."

It wasn't, "Mashiro, your hair is frizzing up."

"Mashiro," Sanjo fixed me with a stare powerful enough to move Stonehenge, "How is tutoring with Fujisaki-san going?" As soon as she formed the words, I could feel the silence ringing in the air. If that's even possible?

"I'm sorry, pardon?" I asked politely, and the only reply I got was to have her stand up out of her swivel chair. "Mashiro-san, I assume you are getting Nadeshiko to tutor you, correct?"

"I –" Words failed me, and I just kind of stared at her with a slack-jawed look. "Well, we've been busy – "

"I see." Her words were clipped. Carefully, she pulled several sheets of paper out of a folder – she showed me the numbers in red pen at the top. 43, 56, 61, 50, 44. Not bad.

"Mashiro. This is not the kind of work we appreciate here at Aleydis," she pushed up her glasses again. Why did she keep doing that?! It was very distracting.

"I'm sorry?"

"Don't be sorry, work!" Still standing up, she suddenly thrust a fist into the air, to my horror. We were still in class, and everyone stared in mild interest at our suddenly incensed homeroom teacher. "You can do it, Mashiro-san! Yukarin and Nadeshiko believe in you!"

Bullshit. Nagihiko wouldn't trust me with a teakettle. (So I tried to boil milk once! I didn't realize it would spit it all over the place in an electric teakettle, alright?) Why would he trust me to get my grades up? Nevertheless, I sighed and nodded. "Yes, Yukarin." She was far too peppy to notice the nickname.

When I walked in, I put my hands on the desk where Nagihiko was working. "You. Tutor. Now."

"I take it she talked to you?" He tossed some dark hair out of his eyes as I wordlessly shoved the Ancient Civilizations textbook at him, and he took it with a light smile. "Where do you want to start?"

"I don't care," I practically hissed through clenched teeth.

"Sit down." The cross-dresser pulled a chair over and put it next to where he was already working at the shared desk.

"No."

He suddenly gave me a dark look, and I shrunk back. "Rima, I have no time to play these childish games. Now, _sit down_," he practically growled like a bear that's been repeatedly poked with a stick. I quickly scuttled forward and sat down, throwing him a handful of resentful looks that he ignored. "Wonderful!" he beamed, switching personalities quicker than a... than a personality-switching thing. "Now, let's look at some of your quizzes, shall we?"

"Where did you—" I sputtered, as he came up with several copies of my tests. "Never mind," I mumbled, as he shuffled through them with the agility of a blackjack dealer. Nagihiko kept talking on, relentlessly cheerful, the very epitome of a young and idiotic university professor.

"This one's from bright and early in September, I see!" He scanned it with a mild look upon his face, raising a skeptical eyebrow a couple times. Time passed in silence like this for several minutes, before he put them all down with a sigh. "We'll start with the Ancient Romans."

"That's the beginning of the year! I know that stuff!"

He only replied by quoting one of my tests loudly. " '_The Roe mens'_ – R-O-E space M-E-N-S – '_were a wild nomadic tribe of males who cultivated fish eggs.' _" He gave an almost inaudible snigger. "Firstly, they were an ancient civilization contemporary to the Ancient Greeks and the Egyptians."

"Who cares?"

"You do," he said through gritted teeth, giving me another murderous look. "You'd better care."

"It's not like they did funny stuff or anything," I yawned, spinning my pencil idly. "They just built crap and then died."

There was another silence – I could suddenly hear gears clicking in Nagihiko's brain as he said in an airy way, "Well, depends. Do you find throwing men into pits with lions funny? Or pitting them against each other and then betting on the outcome?"

I choked on a glass of water, which was actually Nagihiko's that I had stolen, but whatever. "_What_?!"

"Oh, _yes_." He tried to slip a worksheet under the glass of water without me noticing. "They did that for punishment, you know. Throwing them into pits with lions."

"Lions lived in Italy?" I was positive this was some kind of lie, but I couldn't help it.

"Well, not natively, no – but they conquered lots of different lands, so I bet they imported. Their trading ports were open to all sorts of different countries, which was unusual for that time." He smiled, very slowly; it was a bit snakelike, and I didn't trust it a bit, but it was somehow nice.

"And how about the betting on the guys that fought each other?" I blurted out.

"Gladiators. It's what they did for kicks. They stole it from Greece when they conquered them; their own Olympic Games, you know." He gave me a sly smile, prodding the pencil in my hands. "Go on. Write down what I'm saying."

It was to my horror that an hour later, I had three pages full of writing about the Ancient Romans. I hadn't even noticed.

"Good work," he smiled at me – a genuine smile – and I felt something in my stomach flip. Cafeteria food does creepy stuff. "Yeah, well – You said you'd tell me more about Julius Caesar. He's my kind of guy."

"You should aspire to better. Like Cleopatra." Nagihiko was now reading my textbook. _For fun._

"She was a seductress!" I protested, taking a gag manga from under my mattress and rolling onto my back on the floor, socked feet against the wall.

"She seduced Julius Caesar, you know – got into his rooms by rolling herself up in a ru-"

"Stop trying to make me learn stuff!" I snapped, giving him a glare, before Yaya breezed into our room without bothering to knock. "You two! Hey!"

"Hey," I grunted, putting my book down reluctantly and sitting up. "What d'you want?"

"I was wondering if you had any food, actually..." she twirled a pigtail around her finger and did a random kind of dance on the floor. "I'm hungry."

"We've got..." I struggled to think of anything. We weren't allowed junk food in the dormitories.

"We've got mandarin oranges?" Nagihiko said idly, pelting one at her head.

"Thanks!" I could have sworn her brain made a hollow noise as the fruit hit it – she immediately flopped down on Nagihiko's bed, peeling it carefully in the shape of a flower. "So, what's up, you guys?"

"Nothing much, I guess. Why are you coming to us for food?" I let one foot drag down the wall.

"Amu-chan was being all sad!" Yaya complained. "She kicked me out and said she needed thinking space. And Utan's out with Ikurin."

"With who?" Nagihiko tilted his head to the side as he came back into the main room.

"With _Ikuto_, Ikurin," Yaya explained. Nagihiko rolled his eyes. "Of course."

"Yes," said Yaya, oblivious. "And so then Yaya thought, _hey! Why doesn't she go visit her friends Rima and Nade?"_

"Because Rima is trying to study!" Nagihiko began, and I quickly hit his shoulder and said quickly, "Sure! What's going on, Yaya?"

"Hmmm. Utan's brother. What d'you think of him?"

Predictably, Nadeshiko came back full-force. "He's very good-looking, isn't he?" Nagihiko giggled, tossing his ponytail, and Yaya let out a piercing squeal. "Yes! Obviously too old for Yaya, I'll take them my age, but he looks like an idol!"

"He isn't too old for _me_," said Nagihiko, winking roguishly, and there was a crashing noise as I fell off my chair. Nagihiko leapt to his feet. "Rima-?!"

"Do you not like Nade-Nade going for Utan's brother?" Yaya asked, obliviously, as I scrambled to my feet and ignored Nagihiko's proffered hand. "No!"

Nagihiko withdrew his hand, his expression stung and smug- if that was even possible. "Whatever you say, Ri-ri-tan."

"No, but what I was really thinking- after the dance," Yaya's eyes widened maniacally, and she said rather deviously, "I think the Ace and Queen are back in business for the afterparty, Rittan!"

"Don't _call _me that. Either of those. You're in a room with a school prefect, you idiot." I flushed in spite of myself, rolling my eyes at the strange nicknames as Nagihiko sniggered. It was a bit of a tradition at this school- high-profile students got bestowed often ridiculously romantic nicknames. Why did we seem to have such a high population of fangirls at Aleydis? When I was in primary school here, I dimly recall everyone calling me Chinadoll. Ugh, how childish.

Now that I think about it, it might have been Nadeshiko who gave me that name. She used it the most often, certainly. At any rate, I took care to change that very, very quickly, which is perhaps how the Queen came about. Yaya? She just used hers so much that it caught on. Anyway, the nicknames are all stupid, anyway.

Heaving myself to my feet, I saw Nagihiko smile a little. "Could you be referring to me, Ri-ma-chan?" (No, I am not telling you Nagihiko's pretty popular girl nickname. You'll have to find out yourself. Oh, wait, you can't, you don't _go to school here_.)

"Oh, Nade won't sell us out!" Yaya threw him a glowing look. "Come on- it'll be so boring, all the posh normal dancing, and stuff. We could use a _real _party afterwards. It's only once in a lifetime we get to hang out with reaaaal booooys!"

I automatically turned to Nagihiko, but he was still looking at Yaya. I'm sure he was finding this hilarious; the least boy-crazy girl in the school gets the only boy in her dormitory. Irony? Irony. Or maybe karma. As I stared at his profile, he turned in the slightest towards me and his mouth twitched up on my side into a little smile. I felt my stomach flip, and I grabbed the table and quickly huffed, saying loudly. " If Shikorin here won't sell us out, I'm in."

"Oh, Rima-tan!" Yaya started, her face lighting up even more, so that she looked like a lightbulb in a uniform and pigtails.

"It depends, though," I said emotionlessly, walking around the table and leaning on Yaya's shoulder. We both fixed Nagihiko with a stare.

"Prefect ain't gonna sell us out, is she?" Yaya asked subtly, putting a hand theatrically on her chin, and I puffed out my cheek. "I guess Nade-nade's too much of a scaredy-cat to break her grandmum's rules and cut loose, isn't she?"

I saw a twinge of prissiness appear on Nagihiko's face. "You know this is against the rules. Where do you plan on _doing this_?"

"The front lawn of the school," I said promptly, and Yaya clapped her hands with glee. "As expected of you, Rima-tan! This means we can set off fireworks! I've got firecrackers already in my dorm, from last year's O-bon, you know!"

"Firecrackers- Fireworks?!" he yelped, combing his fingers through his hair rapidly. "And how d'you expect to get this past any of the teachers-?! They're stupid, not _deaf_!"

"We could really use Nadeshiko's influence in this, couldn't we, Yaya?" I said lazily, leaning on her heavily. Yaya leaned over to the side a bit, pigtails flopping like the leaning tower of pizza or whatever. "We could, we could, Rittan!"

"Don't call me that. What a pity! She's really strategical, you know?" I looked up at him, meeting Nagihiko's eyes. Taunting. There's nothing he could resist more than an accusation of cowardice; I was slowly finding out that Nagihiko had more honor than a knight. Nah, but he wasn't a knight. More like a crappy low-class page, something like that.

"You're actually swallowing your pride and trying to _flatter _me, aren't you?" Nagihiko asked incredulously, averting his eyes. I furrowed my eyebrows, even though I should have felt pleased that he looked away first.

"Of course," I said idly, no pretense, and Yaya's lower lip quivered. Oh, no. She was ready to turn on the waterworks. "Amu will be there, Nade! Amu- and probably Yua, and we don't have to wear our prissy practice dresses!" She waved her arms. "Firecrackers, _and _fireworks!"

"Coward," I said lightly, and he whirled on me, making a face. "Fine."

"Really?!" Yaya squealed, and Nagihiko held up a hand. "Conditions."

Of course. How could I be so naïve? God, we were going to be enslaved until graduation.

"Yaya, naturally. Rima, can you leave the room?"

My mouth dropped open, and I was pretty sure I looked fairly offended, which wasn't what I wanted. "Wait, _what_? You're not going to get me to pay you in favors? You're gonna get _Yaya _to do it?" Why Yaya? Yaya had no advantages. I felt a little flicker of anger.

"Oh- oh, Rima-chan!" Nagihiko blushed prettily, and I got the urge to smack him. "You sound so- so _jealous_! I had no idea you were such a precious, possessive little husband!"

"I'm not your _husband!_" I spat, turning on my heel and stomping out. Why was I jealous over Nagihiko? I was jealous in general- Amu, much so, Yaya, a little; did I truly regard him as a friend worth getting grabby over? Clutching the dormitory stairwell banister, narrowly avoiding Lulu Yamamoto skulking, my shoe froze on the bottom stair.

_Yes. _

He was my friend. Oh my god. I was friends with Nagihiko Fujisaki. Did I- did I mend our rift? With the both of them? _God_, I was so _stupid_; how did it take me this long- no wonder he didn't hate me, we had been comrades for ages, constantly lobbing attention over me. Somehow the insults had gone from malevolent to playful over the course of first term.

What did friends do, though? I resumed going down the stairs, furrowing my eyebrows. Given, I should make sure he doesn't get a girlfriend, because that would wreck our friendship immediately, not to mention drive me crazy. It probably meant I also had to apologize for my misdemeanors. I sighed heavily, tucking my hair behind my ear. Friendship was _such_ a difficult endeavor. Maybe I'd put it off.

* * *

_Next Chapter: _友


End file.
